A Review of the Use of Mercury in Historic and Current Ritualistic and Spiritual Practices
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amr Environmental Medicine A Review of the Use of Mercury in Historic and Current Ritualistic and Spiritual Practices L. Charles Masur, MD Abstract anthropogenic activities, including the refining of Mercury (Hg) occurs naturally in the environment and has mercury-containing ores, the burning of fossil been used in numerous medicinal, commercial, and industrial fuels, industrial processes such as the chlorine applications over many centuries. Also, it has played production, electronics manufacturing, and significant historical, as well as current, ethno-medical and through mining and any related activities that magico-religious roles in a number of different cultures. In utilize mercury in metal recovery processes.1 recent times, awareness has emerged that exposure to Mercury has been used in numerous health and mercury can have serious adverse health consequences. industrial applications over the centuries, and has Accompanying this, contamination of the environment by played key roles in the ethno-medical and magico- mercury is causing public health and environmental concerns. religious rituals and spiritual practices of many As a result, major efforts are being undertaken by industry, African, Asian, and Latin American cultures. This private organizations, and government agencies to reduce or intriguing metal was mined and used by the early eliminate the use of and exposure to this toxic element. Chinese and has been found in Egyptian tombs. It However, in spite of extensive educational and socio-cultural continues to be a substance of great significance in interventions, the use of mercury in ritualistic and spiritual Hindu religious practices. The Vishnudharmottara practices is a continuing cause for concern. Purana, a Hindu text dedicated to the arts, con- (Altern Med Rev 2011:16(4):314-320) tains a section dated from around the 7th century AD that mentions “red lead” (in Latin mercury ore, Introduction cinnabar, is minium or “red lead”) as a source of red Mercury (Hg) occurs as the pure elemental pigment2 and the Jaina text, the Citra Kalpadruma, substance (e.g., liquid mercury), as inorganic details the preparation of this pigment.3 Mercury mercury in ores such as cinnabar (HgS, mercuric was widely employed as an agent to treat syphilis sulfide) and calomel (Hg2Cl2, mercurous chloride), and, in addition to its use as an antibiotic, has been and additionally in compounds such as mercuric the active ingredient in many other medicinals, chloride (HgCl2) and mercuric acetate including diuretics, antiseptics, antipruritics, L. Charles Masur, MD – 4 (Hg[O2CCH3]2). It is also found in organic form analgesics, and laxatives. With the advent of the Scientific Support Physician, such as the organometallic cations methyl- and industrial revolution, mercury found its way into a Doctor’s Data, Inc. + + Correspondence address: ethyl-mercury ([CH3Hg] and [C2H5Hg] ), respec- plethora of other health-related, cosmetic, com- Doctor’s Data, Inc., 3755 tively, and as the extremely dangerous dimethyl- mercial, and industrial applications. Illinois Avenue, St. Charles, IL mercury (CH ) Hg (one of the strongest neurotox- 60174-2420 3 2 Email: ins known). Mercury Toxicity [email protected] Elemental mercury is the main form of mercury Over the past half century it has become entering the atmosphere and does so mostly as a increasingly apparent that exposure to mercury can vapor through natural processes,1 such as during have adverse health consequences. This began with geyser and volcanic eruptions. Mercury is also the recognition that “pink disease,” or acrodynia, freed into air, water, and soil through was related to the use of mercury-containing Copyright © 2011 Alternative Medicine Review, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No Reprint Without Written Permission. Volume 16, Number 4 Alternative Medicine Review 314 Environmental Medicine amr Key words: azogue, mercury, parad, ritual, santeria, medications, which eventually resulted in the virtually eliminated and now all major U.S.-licensed spiritual, vidajan, Hg exclusion of calomel (Hg2Cl2) from most teething vaccines, except for tetanus toxoid, are available in powders in 1954.5 “mercury-free” form,26 at least in single-dose vials. Adverse health consequences due to environ- Very few medical devices now use mercury, except mental contamination by mercury were exempli- where absolutely necessary. Public health initia- fied by the Minamata Bay disaster in 1956 in tives aimed at reducing consumption of piscivorous Japan.6 A syndrome of progressive muscular fish, such as tuna, salmon, swordfish, and marlin dystrophy, blindness, neurological dysfunction, (well known to concentrate methyl-mercury), have paralysis, coma, and death was shown to be related been widely implemented. The non-essential use of to industrial contamination by methyl-mercury of mercury amalgam (“silver”) dental fillings and aquatic life in the Minamata Bay area, resulting in mercury-containing medicinals is well on the way the eventual demise of over 2,265 individuals. Also toward being effectively minimized if not related to this disaster, it was demonstrated that eliminated. local pregnant women who consumed mercury- contaminated fish gave birth to infants with severe The Broad Historical Ethno-Medical, developmental disabilities.7 Magico-Religious Perspective Recently, chronic exposure to mercury, perhaps There is evidence that mercury has been used in from environmental sources such as fossil fuel ethno-medical and magico-religious rituals and emissions from power plants8 or from other spiritualistic practices in China and India since sources such as fish consumption, amalgam fillings, before the historical record,27 and mercury has fluorescent light bulbs, and vaccines,9 has been been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 1,500 postulated to be a possible causative factor in the BC.28 Ores such as cinnabar (HgS) and calomel etiology of symptoms of central nervous system (Hg2Cl2) were used by the Chinese in the making of dysfunction and renal toxicity.10 Mercury exposure pigments, cosmetics, soaps, and laxatives. The is also believed my many to play a role in the Chinese emperor Shen Nung, considered to be the apparently increasing incidence of developmental father of Chinese medicine, authored the disorders, such as autism,11 and in the etiology of 40-volume Great Herbal or Chinese Materia Medica learning disabilities,12 such as attention deficient around 2735 BC29 and included mercury in his list disorder (ADD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity of drugs. Physicians and scientists in the court of disorder (ADHD). Emperor Qin Shihuang prescribed for him a potion Mercury now is clearly recognized as a hazard- containing powdered jade and mercury that was ous chemical that can cause serious health prob- purported to promote eternal life. Unfortunately lems,13 especially in children and during fetal for the Emperor, the mercury in the mixture had development.14 It is known to react with sulfhydryl, the opposite of the desired effect and resulted in phosphoryl, carboxyl, and amide groups, and is a his death from mercury poisoning in 210 BC.30 neurodevelopmental toxicant that can adversely Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbal affect enzymes, cellular membrane function, and preparations used today may be contaminated with neurotransmitter levels;15,16 can increase oxidative mercury and/or other metals,31 and there have stress, lipid peroxidation, and mitochondrial been reports of these treatments resulting in the dysfunction; and can disrupt synaptic transmission, oral ingestion of up to 1.2 g of mercury per day, microtubule formation, amino acid transport, and probably as HgS.32 cellular migration in the developing brain.17 Figure 1 shows the results of an analysis for potentially toxic elements conducted on the hair of Mercury Risk Reduction a one-year-old girl who was recently adopted from Through the combined efforts of governmental China. By history from the adoptive parents,33 it agencies at the international,18,19 national,20,21 and was revealed that the child had been treated in local22,23 levels, the initiatives of private organiza- China with TCM herbal preparations (it could not tions,24 and the cooperation of industry,25 the be clarified whether or not the elevated levels of non-essential industrial and commercial use of antimony, arsenic, lead, and mercury found in the mercury is being markedly reduced. Mercury hair sample were present as the result of excretory reduction by the health industry is also notable. processes or if they were due to contamination The use of the preservative thimerosal, which from external sources). contains ethyl-mercury, in many vaccines has been 315 Alternative Medicine Review Volume 16, Number 4 Copyright © 2011 Alternative Medicine Review, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No Reprint Without Written Permission. amr Environmental Medicine Figure 1. Potentially Toxic Elements Report on a Sample of Scalp Hair from a One-Year-Old Girl TOXIC RESULT REFERENCE 68th 95th ELEMENTS μg/g RANGE PERCENTILE PERCENTILE Aluminum 7.4 <8.0 Antimony 0.12 <0.066 Arsenic 0.39 <0.080 Beryllium <0.01 <0.020 Bismuth 0.67 <2.0 Cadmium 0.41 <0.10 Lead 3.0 <1.0 Mercury 0.63 <0.40 practitioners are adamant that the agents used in Hinduism, the world’s third largest, and perhaps these compounds are safe and therapeutic.36 the oldest, living religious tradition,34 has among In spite of claims that mercury, lead, and other its roots the Vedic religion, which dates back to metals in Ayurvedic “herbal” preparations