And evolution ensured that we had alcohol dehydrogenase to deal with it.
W
At 05:18 27/05/2003 -0500, Nicholas Miller wrote:
>So what do you think the origin is of blood alcohol in subjects who have
>not consumed alcoholic beverages ? (It can go up to 200 micromoles per litre)
>
>Nick Miller,
>
>London
>----- Original Message -----
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 09:14:08 +1000
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: RE: Mercury Level and dental amalgam
>
> >
> > This posting damns itself in my opinion. It postulates "hypersensitivity"
> > to mercury in a proportion of the population and then "immune suppression"
> > as the likely mechanism for "Candida overgrowth in the intestine" and
> > "renal or brain tumours 20 years later". "Candida overgrowth in the
> > intestine" is a non-disease that has been attributed to almost every
> > spectre in the ghostly world of quackery. There is as yet no evidence to
> > link renal and brain tumours to dental amalgam while there is overwhelming
> > evidence to link cigarette smoking to an array of malignant and
> > non-malignant diseases. This evidence was collected without access to
> > double-blind clinical trials and if it exists for mercury then the same
> > methods can be used to discover it.
> >
> > For a review of the actual doses of mercury accumulated from dental
> > amalgams see:
> > Halbach S. Amalgam tooth fillings and man's mercury burden. Human and
> > Experimental Toxicology 1994;13:496-501.
> >
> > Bruce Campbell
> >
> > ****************************************
> > Bruce Campbell FRCPA FAACB
> > Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology
> > Ph 61 (0)7 3377 8672
> > Fax 61 (0)7 3870 5989
> > Email [log in to unmask]
> > ****************************************
> >
> >
> >
> > "Nick Miller"
> > <n.j.miller@scie To: "ACB Mailbase"
> <[log in to unmask]>,
> > ntist.com> <[log in to unmask]>
> > cc:
> > 27/05/03 00:48 Subject: RE: Mercury
> Level and dental amalgam
> > Please respond
> > to n.j.miller
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Well Bruce, does that not tell you something interesting about the degree
> > of
> > metal exposure in your subjects ? I think it's a bit sinister that a rather
> > low level chelation challenge can remove Hg and other (presumably toxic ?)
> > metals into the urine in measurable quantities.
> >
> > Yes, everybody agrees that organic mercury is highly toxic and there is
> > another (separate) controversy about the level of organic mercury ingestion
> > by people who eat lots of certain kinds of fish (e.g. canned tuna - the
> > tuna
> > fish being at the top of the pelagic food chain and hence concentrating in
> > its tissues mercury from other species).
> >
> > However the scientific literature is stuffed full of data on the harmful
> > effects to human health of inorganic mercury, which if I was to summarise
> > here would make this a rather lengthy message (look for example at
> > http://www.amalgam.org). The difference with the literature on
> > methylmercury
> > is that many of the unfortunate individuals who have been poisoned in this
> > way have high levels of mercury in their systems, suffer from acute
> > exposure
> > symptoms, live in geographical clusters and can be examined in more or less
> > the same way as experimental animals. These factors usually do not apply
> > with inorganic Hg exposure, which often involves a degree of individual
> > hypsersensitivy to very low levels of the metal. The proof of the pudding
> > is
> > whether the symptoms recede when the mercury is removed. Most people seem
> > to
> > tolerate their fillings without harmful effect, but dental amalgam is so
> > widely used that there are nevertheless many people who react adversely. A
> > common clinical finding these days is gastro-intestinal Candida overgrowth,
> > which may not immediately be associated with immune suppression in the GIT
> > caused by leaching of inorganic Hg from fillings.
> >
> > For those of you who are interested, this is by no means a new controversy
> > -
> > dating back to the mid-19th century - and one which has not seen a
> > scientific resolution. I wouldn't claim to have figures, but I am told by
> > dentists who specialise in this area that it is an increasing problem,
> > possibly caused by changes in dental practice (teeth are "lined" before the
> > amalgam is inserted and this lining should remain intact).
> >
> > Dental associations have repeatedly countered the controversy by claiming
> > that the Hg reacts with the other amalgam metals to form a biologically
> > inactive substance and by observing that dentists do not report any adverse
> > side effects in their patients. Long-term use of dental amalgam continues
> > to
> > be offered as evidence of its safety (similar to the cigarette story that
> > "I
> > 've smoked them all my life and I ain't dead yet"). I do not find these
> > arguments particularly compelling, nor the argument than those who raise
> > the
> > issue is are "quacks". Mercury is, of course, a cumulative poison and if
> > you
> > get a renal or brain tumour 20 years later, you are unlikely to go back to
> > your dentist and complain. Don't expect any double-blinded trials, either.
> >
> > Nick Miller,
> >
> > London
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Bruce Campbell
> > Sent: 26 May 2003 01:22
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Mercury Level and dental amalgam
> >
> >
> > The fact that a challenge test with a chelating agent shows that a quantity
> > of a particular element can be removed from the body proves nothing in
> > itself. Since we installed an ICP-MS I have had the chance to have a look
> > at the results of challenge tests with several chelating agents and the
> > amounts of a variety of metals that appear in the urine are striking.
> >
> > I am not aware of any evidence that the amounts of inorganic mercury
> > leached from dental amalgams cause toxic effects other than rare cases of
> > intra-oral mucosal hypersensitivity. Methylmercury is a lot more toxic but
> > even then it is hard to demonstrate effects from chronic low-level oral
> > exposure. The only data I know of is that on methylmercury from whalemeat
> > in the offspring of pregnant Faroe islanders.
> >
> > Bruce Campbell
> >
> > ****************************************
> > Bruce Campbell FRCPA FAACB
> > Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology
> > Ph 61 (0)7 3377 8672
> > Fax 61 (0)7 3870 5989
> > Email [log in to unmask]
> > ****************************************
> >
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