What's the Big Deal?
Coughing Swelling Irritability

Shortness of Breath

 Flushing Shyness
Chest Pain Kidney problems Itching
Vision Problems Loose teeth Joint pains
Erratic Behavior* Hearing Problems Weekness
Vomiting Nausea Rashes
Diarrhea Impaired Judgement Mouth sores
Fever Memory loss Increased heart rate
Tremors Increased blood pressure Sleeplessness
Mercury is highly toxic. Mercury accumulates in body tissues and organs and causes adverse health problems. It enters the body through inhalation of mercury vapors or by skin absorption when handling the substance. Depending on the level and frequency of exposure to elemental mercury, it may take long periods of time ranging from months to years to rid the body of it. This is an ever-evolving threat given the ways that magico-religious mercury is used. No correlation has been made yet between mercury poisoning and religious practices, and once individuals experience mercury exposure, their symptoms, upon fist examination, are most often attributed to other maladies.

 

 

 

 

 

Symptoms of Mercury Exposure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mercury poses extreme health hazards to young children who spend a considerable amount of time crawling on the floor.
Sprinkling mercury on the floor and mixing it with soapy solutions to wash the floor liberate mercury vapor into the room air. This exposes the inhabitants to elevated levels of mercury vapor. This affects not only the current inhabitants, but any future inhabitants who will live in that particular dwelling because mercury is highly absorptive and remains in the cracks of

High level mercury exposure can result in severe neurological damage and alter the functions of the nervous system. Human lungs readily absorb 75-85% of inhaled elemental mercury vapor, allowing it to diffuse across the alveolar membranes and attack red blood cells and the central nervous system. High temperatures play a crucial role in mercury vaporization. The boiling point of liquid mercury is 356.9*C, so when mercury is burned in a candle, whose flame is hotter than 500*C, harmful mercury vapors fill the room and seep into peoples' lungs.

 

Fetuses, infants, and small children appear to be particularly at risk. A fetus's exposure to mercury may not be apparent at birth but may reveal themselves in later childhood as learning diabilities, deficits in language, cognitive, and motor skill development. Since mercury poisoning can also be spread through breast milk, breast-fed infants may be at a higher risk.

 

 

How is Mercury Disposed?

 

 

wooden floors and carpets for prolonged periods of time.

 

 

 

 

 

Mercury's Vapor

Unlike other heavy metals, mercury has ahigh vapor pressure of 1.1 x 10^3 Torr at 20 *C and a saturated atmosphere concentration of 12 mg m ^3 at 20*C. This is almost three orders of magnitude greater than the average threshold limit value of .025 mg m^3.

 

 

Since most magico-religious mercury is used within closed confines (homes, cars, etc.), the rooms are easily overtaken by mercury vapors. An accurate assessment of the magnitude of harm of vapor requires specific surface areas of rooms and mercury's absorption and desorption characteristics, which largely depend on the amount of mercury being used and the kinds of surfaces (sizes, temperatures) it is interacting with.
These variables differ from home to home, situation to situation, and so a lack of substantial amounts of this data have necessitatted the creation of models and formulas to give an estimate of exposure that could result from cultural uses of mercury. The following is one such model that attempts to show mercury vapor concentrations.
Where V is the room volume in cubic meters (m^3), C is the concentration in micrograms per hour, and Q is the air flow rate from the room in m^3. S, the mercury evaporation rate, is the rate of mercury vaporization per unit area of mercury. This is a constant value of 7 ug/cm^2/hour at 20*C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VC = S-Q

 

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR)'s minimal risk level (MRL) for mercury vapor inhalation is .3 ug/m^3. This is an estimate of the daily human exposure that will most likely not result in risk. The occupational exposure limit set by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is 50 ug/m^3.

Subject 1

Reported having 1 kg of mercury in a cauldron in a 43 m^3 room. He did not seal his package of mercury. The typical cauldron is about 25 cm. in diameter, and with an air exchange rate in the room of .5 air changes per hour, the mercury vapor level is approximately 600 ug/m^3. This level is twelve times higher than the accepted occupational exposure limit set by the U.S. National Institute of Ocupational Safety and Health.

 

Subject 2

Reported keeping mercury in a sealed bottle and removing small amounts for use. The room volume was 180 m^3. Assuming that the open bottle contains .25g of mercury in a single droplet, the mercury vapor level would be approximately .02 ug/m^3, less than the ASTDR level.

 

Practicality?

Typically, botanicas sell 9 gram capsules of mercury. Consider a hypothetical situation in which the 9 gram capsule is broke in a typical living room of 40 m^3 and the air exchange rate of .5 air changes per hour equilibriates at the constant 7 ug/m^3. The level of mercury vapor, although lower than the occupational exposure limit, would be higher than the ATSDR's minimal risk level and pose a threat to users an dother inhabitants in teh event of continued practice.

Burning mercury in a candle can result in a 2000 ug/m^3, which means that 4 grams of mercury are vaporized every minute in a room about 27 m^3.

Improper disposal of mercury includes:

Throwing it down the toilet bowl

Throwing it in the garbage

Throwing it outdoors

Incorrect disposal contributes to the high levels of mercury found in the New York City sewage system.

Improper disposal of mercury down the toilet bowl or in the garbage by religious practitioners in New York City Latin American and Caribbean communities contributes to the large amounts of mercury accumulation in the New York City sewage system. Outdoor disposal contributes to the mercury load in the atmosphere, which is hazardous because the time that mercury remains in the air is around one year, giving ample time for distribution over long distances before returning to the earth. But the problem is not solved after mercury returns to the earth. Even then, it is emitted back to the atmosphere either as a gas or is deposited elsewhere. Plants and animals are exposed to mercury and accumulate the metal in their bodies through this system, resulting in a variety of human health and ecological effects.

Because of the lack of sufficient data to provide an estimate of the exposure of religious mercury, it is difficult to assess the health effects believed to be associated with it. The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAA) of 1990 requires the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study mercury emissions from electric utility steam generators, municipal and medical waste generators and other sources, including area sources. The EPA interpreted the phrase "... and other sources..." to mean that an examination of mercury sources should be made to the extent that data were available, and not much data has been gathered on mercury exposure due to religious practices.

How do you know if you've been exposed to mercury?

While the health effects of exposure to magically used mercury have yet to be determined, exposure to mercury has been known to cause certain health defects. Although urine sampling is a common method of testing for exposure to mercury, there is poor correlation between blood and urine mercury levels and clinical symptoms. Mercury may not appear in urine tests despite the fact that it may be bound in tissue. In this case, a chelation challenge is needed to mobilize the mercury so it can be detected in urine. Another problem that the limited data presents is that most of it has been collected from adult exposures to mercury; toxic urinary mercury concentrations have not been determined for children yet. Children are the most vulnerable to mercury poisoning because they spend a large portion of their time crawling on floors and putting toys and other objects in their mouths.

A study in Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn found highly elevated levels of mercury in a Dominican woman's breast milk. The mercury level in her milk was 57 ug/l. The mercury level in her urine, however was 5 ug/l.

In May of 1988, a 33-month-old girl was admitted to a hospital for weight loss attributed to anorexia, light sensitivity, and widespread severely itching eczema and pink, sweaty palms. She was ill-mannered and preferred to be isolated and driven around town in a private buggy. Acrodynia, a rare manifestation of chronic mercury exposure, was detected and medical personnel found elevated mercury levels in her urine. However, her eczema and mood began to improve after two weeks of chelation therapy. After four months of therapy, her symptoms disappeared and the mercury levels in her urine were back to normal.

 

The girl's 20-month-old sister eczema with super-infections which had started six weeks earlier. The initial mercury level in her urine was low, and after two weeks of chelation therapy, it became lower.

 

The six year old brother was not affected as badly, but he had an itching exanthema and was thought to be more nervous than usual. He, like the first sister, had raised levels of mercury in his urine, but he improved after undergoing chelation therapy.

 

It was then discovered that eight months prior to being admitted into the hospital, the children had broken a thermometer on their carpet. The mercury was still detectable nine months later.

The symbols on the chart represent the mercury levels in children 1, 2 and 3, the first sister, the second sister, and the brother respectively on different days after chelation therapy was given.
One of the dangers of mercury usage stems from users "unappreciation" of the environmental and health risks associated with it. In most cases users are either reluctant to learn about the issues at stake or consciously minimize the risk to fit their cultural norms. This condition is known as empowerment, where the person undergoing the risk believes he/she has some control over the risk. This affects their personal judgment of risk. In fact, the use of mercury is seen as a means to avoiding harm and risk associated with the metaphysical.
What Has the Government Done?
Home
Bibliography

Muhlendahl, Karl Ernst. "A Natural Experiment of Our Hypothesis!" The Lancet. December 22-29, 1990.

Wendroff, Arnold P. "Mercury Exposure from Magico-Religious Use in Hispanic and Caribbean Homes"

Johnson, Clyde. Elemental Mercury Use in Religious and Ethnic Practices in Latin American and Caribbean Communities in New York City. From Population and Environment: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Volume 20, Number 5, May 1999. Human Sciences Press, Inc. 1999.

Leal-Almeraz, Thomas; Newby, Alison; Riley, Donna M.; Thomas, Valerie M. "Assessing Elemental Mercury Vapor Exposure from Cultural and Religious Practices. Environmental Health Perspectives. Volume 109, No. 8. August 2001.

Toxicological Profile for Mercury. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. March 1999