February 12, 2007
TO: Conservationist magazine letters
Albany, NY
Dear Editors:
I have been a subscriber and avid reader of Conservationist for decades. I spent much of my youth hiking in the Ramapos and in the Adirondack high peaks, and your magazine brings back those days to me with delight. But, I’m sorry to say, the article in the February issue advocating "mercury clean-outs" puts Conservationist on a seriously mistaken course, inadvertently supporting a movement that is driven less by science and more by hysteria and greed. I hope you will see fit to print a retraction.
The article "Get the Mercury Out" is replete with errors of mindset and errors of fact. It disregards the established scientific principle that only the dose makes the poison. It overlooks the critical difference of dosage forms: it briefly mentions, then disregards the difference between relatively non-toxic elemental metallic mercury and the exceedingly toxic compound methyl mercury.
While properly stating that care should be taken to avoid putting elemental mercury into the refuse (where it can be introduced into the environment and converted into methyl mercury), the article falsely implies that there is little difference between elemental mercury and methyl mercury. It wrongly implies that having a mercury-based thermometer or barometer in the house is a panic-generating major health hazard. It can encourage the pseudoscientific and socially-detrimental hysteria against vaccines and dental fillings, a growing movement fed by ignorance and being promoted and exploited by quacks and litigation-seeking frauds.
Here are some of the article's scientifically incorrect statements:
"Even a spill of a few drops of mercury can produce harmful vapor levels in enclosed spaces. Since mercury vapor is colorless and odorless, you will not know that your indoor air is being contaminated by mercury."
(Elemental mercury barely vaporizes at all. As a dentist, over a half-century, I placed thousands of half-mercury amalgam fillings. If the mercury vaporized, the fillings would not last, but a well-made amalgam can last indefinitely. And there has never been a shred of valid evidence that the mercury in fillings produced any harm. Nor is there valid evidence that the mercury in thermometers or the mercury preservatives in vaccines have produced harm.)
"Mercury can be easily absorbed by the human body. It can affect the brain, nervous system, liver, and kidneys. Mercury has even been linked to heart disease and Parkinson's disease. Young children and fetuses are especially at risk to mercury's toxic effects. Because mercury damages the central nervous system, it can cause birth defects, neurological problems, developmental delays, and learning disabilities in children."
(While much of this is true about methyl mercury, none of it is true about metallic mercury. A few drops of mercury spilled at school will not harm students.)
Regarding New York State's efforts to reduce emissions by establishing "mercury caps": While this represents a gesture in the right direction, its effect is feeble when measured against the much heavier atmospheric mercury pollution generated by China and other Asian nations. And what do you mean by "mercury clean out"? Are you suggesting that we not only remove barometers and thermometers, but also batteries, fluorescent lights, disinfectants, computers -- anything that uses mercury in any form?
This is reminiscent of the school asbestos removal hysteria of some years ago that resulted in heavy and unjustified expense to no purpose and actually produced an increased asbestos exposure once walls and ceilings were ripped apart to get at the asbestos.
Protecting the environment is an imperative matter, but the environmental cause is seriously hurt by schemes not based on sound science. Unsound agendas waste scarce public health resource, and distract us from dealing effectively with the many real public health problems that remain unsolved.
Sincerely,
Dr. Marvin J. Schissel
Dr. Marvin J. Schissel is a dentist and an advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, the National Council Against Health Fraud, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
See also: ACSH's report on Regulating Mercury Emissions from Power Plants and Dr. Schissel's report on dental Quality and Quackery.
