Another Mercury Source

I'd have to say people shouldn't worry nearly as much about the shots their babies are getting - they need to worry about Corn Syrup. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

This report sent to me by Kevin M.

The following is merely excerpts of the entire article, as it is incredibly dry reading. However, it's an area that has never been looked at by the US.

Mercury - in various forms, is used to make HFCS last longer - longer shelf life, lower spoilage rate. There are 8 plants in the US that use mercury to produce the chemicals that are used to make HFCS - it's not just a matter of squeezing sweet corn and letting it dry. It's a very complex process.

The US does try to keep track of the mercury itself, but when shortages - of TONS - are reported, nothing is done to track where it may have gone. Anything that has a corn product, food grade or otherwise, most likely has the mercury in it. This just happens to be what an arm of the FDA tested thus far - and have been banned from doing anymore.

The paper was written and submitted June of '08. Was published Jan of '09.
For the whole thing:
http://www.ehjournal.net/content/pdf/1476-069x-8-2.pdf

In 2004, several member states of the European Union reported finding mercury concentrations in beverages, cereals and bakery ware, and sweeteners [14] – all of which may contain HFCS. FDA does not currently have a mercury surveillance program for food ingredients such as added sugars or preservatives manufactured with mercury grade chlor-alkali products.

With the reported average daily consumption of 49.8 g HFCS per person, however, and our finding of mercury in the range of 0.00 to 0.570 μg mercury/g HFCS, we can estimate that the potential average daily total mercury exposure from HFCS could range from zero to 28.4 μg mercury. This range can be compared to the range of total mercury exposure from dental amalgam in children reported by Health Canada [20]. In the report issued by Canada, daily estimates of total mercury exposure from dental amalgam in children ages 3-19 ranged on average from 0.79 to 1.91 μg mercury.

Current international food processing standards allow 1.0 μg mercury/g caustic soda [21, 22] and there is no standard for mercury in food grade hydrochloric acid. Both of these chemicals may be used to make HFCS. The FDA has approved HFCS for use as an added sugar in food products but a review of food product labels reveals that it is often added to a product in addition to sugar presumably to enhance product shelf life.

Regardless of its intended use, it is imperative that public health officials evaluate this potential source of mercury exposure, as HFCS is presently ubiquitous in processed foods and therefore significantly consumed by people all over the world.

Mercury in any form – either as water-soluble inorganic salt, a lipid-soluble organic mercury compound, or as metallic mercury- is an extremely potent neurological toxin [23]. Mercury contamination of food products as a result of the use of mercury contaminated HFCS seems like a very real possibility.

With daily per capita consumption of HFCS in the US averaging about 50 grams and daily mercury intakes from HFCS ranging up to 28 μg, this potential source of mercury may exceed other major sources of mercury especially in high-end consumers of beverages sweetened with HFCS.

Food products that contain a significant amount of HFCS should be tested for mercury contamination in the end product and the public should be informed of any detections. Clearly, more research is needed to determine the extent of mercury exposure in children from mercury contaminated HFCS in food products.

Testing Yourself

The first two can be used with body fluids or clear liquids (can have color to it, just not cloudy in nature)
http://www.vivagen.net/tests_distillers.htm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220349844606&category=67589&refid=store

The third is to check surfaces
http://www.leadcheck.com/MercuryCheckSwab.shtml

This final is to send in a sample of your hair
http://www.sierraclub.org/mercury/get_tested/

(From my herbal studies)

Getting the Mercury Out

If you are concerned that you might have a high level of mercury in your body, there are things you can do at home to assist in getting the mercury out. All 3 herbs are completely safe, have no side effects, even in massive doses, and 2 are probably in your cupboard right now.

If you can't find the mullein, use the other 2 anyway.

2 oz mullein leaves
2 oz fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (per tea pot)

Mix first 2 herbs together. Keep in glass container. Take 1 heaping teaspoon of mixture, put in tea pot (If only fennel, half a teaspoon). Pour 1 cup of boiling water over mixture - steep for 15 minutes. Add the 1/4 teaspoon cayenne to the liquid. Strain before drinking. Drink 1/3 of this 3 times a day, between meals. Reduce by half for children (It's a volume thing for kids, they aren't going to want to drink it and don't need the entire volume to work, so why make them?)

Use 3X daily for 1 week, 1X daily for 1 week, retest - if you feel the need. For maintenance - once a week should be good. But won't hurt you at all if you choose to do it more often.