Quicksilver --- Slow Death
Mercury is the only common metal that is a liquid at room temperature.
Dentists use it to make amalgams for filling teeth, and laboratory workers employ mercury and its compounds in a variety of ways. Farmers use seeds treated with compounds of mercury.
Mercury vapor is quite hazardous when inhaled, particularly when exposure takes place over a long period of time. By some as yet unknown mechanism, the body converts the inhaled mercury to Hg2+ ions. All compounds of mercury, except those that are essentially insoluble in water, are poisonous no matter how they are administered.
Because mercury is cumulative poison (it takes the body about 70 days to rid itself of half of a given dose), chronic poisoning is a threat to those continually exposed.
The antidote for mercury, the compound, a derivative of glycerol, is called British antilewisite (BAL). It acts by chelating (from the Greek chela meaning “claw”) Hg2+ ions. Thus tied up, the mercury cannot attack vital enzymes.
The effects of mercury poisoning may not show up for several weeks. By the time they symptoms – loss of equilibrium, sight, feeling, and hearing – are recognizable, extensive damage has already been done to the brain, and the nervous system. Such damage is largely irreversible. The BAL antidote is effective only when a person knows that he or she has been poisoned and seeks treatment right away.
Dentists use it to make amalgams for filling teeth, and laboratory workers employ mercury and its compounds in a variety of ways. Farmers use seeds treated with compounds of mercury.
Mercury vapor is quite hazardous when inhaled, particularly when exposure takes place over a long period of time. By some as yet unknown mechanism, the body converts the inhaled mercury to Hg2+ ions. All compounds of mercury, except those that are essentially insoluble in water, are poisonous no matter how they are administered.
Because mercury is cumulative poison (it takes the body about 70 days to rid itself of half of a given dose), chronic poisoning is a threat to those continually exposed.
The antidote for mercury, the compound, a derivative of glycerol, is called British antilewisite (BAL). It acts by chelating (from the Greek chela meaning “claw”) Hg2+ ions. Thus tied up, the mercury cannot attack vital enzymes.
The effects of mercury poisoning may not show up for several weeks. By the time they symptoms – loss of equilibrium, sight, feeling, and hearing – are recognizable, extensive damage has already been done to the brain, and the nervous system. Such damage is largely irreversible. The BAL antidote is effective only when a person knows that he or she has been poisoned and seeks treatment right away.
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