Interactions of human commensal bacteria with amalgam derived mercury: the science and its implications for infectious disease and neurotoxicology.

Author: Summers A.

Source: For FDA Docket No. FDA-2008-N-0163.

Year: 2008

Comment:

Abstract / Excerpt:

In summary, there is currently a renaissance of interest in the contributions of the commensal microbiota to many aspects of health and disease from digestion to the development of the immune system and even to effects on the central nervous system (Yan and Polk, 2004; Kanauchi et al., 2005; Macdonald and Monteleone, 2005). One traditional area upon which this new perspective has yet to impinge is toxicology. The vigorous metabolism of all forms of Hg by bacterial members of the commensal microbiota is a rich example of what our small fellow travelers can marshal for their defense against the toxic agents to which we expose ourselves. Hopefully, toxicologists , especially those concerned with the widespread exposure to Hg from amalgam restorations, will begin to collaborate with microbiologists to take into account these bacterial processes (Fig. 1) in understanding the risks of amalgams and devising means to protect those with them and those having them removed.

Citation: Summers A. Interactions of human commensal bacteria with amalgam derived mercury: the science and its implications for infectious disease and neurotoxicology. University of Georgia, Athens. For FDA Docket No. FDA-2008-N-0163.