Magico-Religious Mercury Exposure

Abstract

Magico-religious Mercury Exposure Mark Wheeler's Focus article, "Measuring Mercury" (1), which appeared in the August 1996 issue of EHP, contained a serious omission. Wheeler concentrated on methyl mercury and, to a lesser extent, elemental mercury in dental amalgams. He failed to mention the relatively recently described but extremely significant exposures to elemental mercury in ethnically Hispanic and Caribbean homes, consequent to its use for a variety of magico-religious and ethnomedical purposes (2-3). Such domestic use and presumed exposure has been documented in a number of published papers, as well as by research sponsored by the ATSDR (4-6) and the EPA (7). In fact, an ATSDR monograph specifically alerts clinicians to this exposure pathway: "Metallic mercury has been used by Mexican-Americans and Asian populations in folk remedies for chronic stomach disorders and by Latin-American and Caribbean natives in occult practices" (4). This monograph was edited by Thomas Clarkson, who was interviewed by Wheeler, and who has long been aware of elemental mercury's domestic use. Similarly, the EPA's Kathryn Mahaffey, also interviewed, has been aware of domestic mercury exposure for some years, and the EPA issued a risk assessment document on cultural uses of mercury in 1993 (7). These mercury exposures are especially significant from an environmental health perspective because, in many cases, they are certain to be orders of magnitude greater than (methyl) mercury exposures from eating fish or from the leaching of mercury in amalgam fillings. Additionally, the mercury vapor released from mercury intentionally sprinkled on floors affects all occupants of contaminated homes, from the fetus to the elderly. Andrew Rowland, cited in "The Issue of Amalgams" (1), has been aware of domestic mercury exposure for several years. Rowland makes a call for more research on health effects of amalgam-mercury exposure. I make a similar call for research on magico-religious mercury exposure. If the environmental health research community continues to ignore magico-religious mercury exposure, its health effects will never be ascertained.

Acute mercury poisoning from occult ritual use

“…The occult rituals represent an important source for exposure and poisoning with elemental mercury. People from Latin-American and Caribbean communities frequently use mercury as the main element in occult activities such as worshipping Saints (Santeria), invoking health and luck (Espiritismo) or Voodoo religious practices [6,7]. Santeria followers believe that mercury's supernatural powers are determined by its liquid nature, having the ability to protect people against evil [8].…”