Mercury is a known poison. It is more toxic than lead and arsenic. Mercury is a vapor at room temperatures and is colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Mercury vapor is absorbed almost 100% when inhaled into the lungs and immediately passes into the bloodstream. While in the bloodstream mercury can readily pass through the blood brain barrier into the brain, through the placental membrane to an unborn child, or accumulate in other organs and tissues of the body. Once mercury binds to organs and tissues in the body there can be cell death or irreversible chemical damage that impairs the function of vital organs.
The half-life of mercury in the body can be over 25 years (18 years in the brain), which means that mercury binds so strongly to body tissues that it takes the body up to 25 years to remove ½ of a single dose.1 Most proponents of amalgam fillings argue that the amount of mercury released from fillings is so minimal that it is virtually harmless. However, if one considers the analogy of a bucket with a hole in the bottom letting out water slower than is being added, eventually the bucket will overflow. Similarly, if the body is removing mercury slower than is being absorbed from fillings, it is only a matter of time when pathological symptoms begin to appear as a result of years of mercury accumulation.
Discover Magazine wrote an article on the topic of mercury exposure from our environment and from our fillings entitled “Our Preferred Poison.”
The article mentions a chemistry professor in Dartmouth College that accidentally spilled a few drops of mercury on her hand while working in the laboratory. Despite the fact that she was wearing a latex glove, her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died several months later from mercury toxicity.2