Heavy metal poisoning at those levels is a very slow and cumulative
business. Heavy metals are cheerfully absorbed by the human body but
we are very poor at excreting them. Consequently we begin to feel
progressively worse over a period of time, physically and
neurologically, as the level slowly escalates. This is what causes
the problem with big fish which have had time to build up significant
levels from their environment or predators high up on the
biomagnification chain.
Arsenic is a nice case in point - you can chew small amounts for a
long time before it gets you, but you'll feel pretty rough in the
meantime. The 'small amounts' are way, way above 'safe ' levels of
course. Farmers with a highlevel of exposure to arsenic compounds
took a long time to get sick.
One relatively small hit from something like a vaccination is
unlikely to cause distress unless you have an unusual sensitivity, a
reaction to the virus itself or, more likely, a high expectation that
you would feel unwell afterwards. (The placebo effect is remarkably
powerful). It's analogous to an minor x-ray procedure - would you
refuse it because regular high level exposure might give you a
cancer? After all, the dentist is hiding behind a screen!
AndrewF
On 25/06/2005, at 4:10 AM, R. Jackson wrote:
> but now I kind of wonder if some of it wasn't my body reacting to
> mercury contamination.
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