Thanks for posting. After I wrote my last blog post on mercury, readers wrote to ask about the old-time antiseptic Mercurochrome which - as you might imagine - was named for the poisonous traces of mercury mixed into it. As an adult plasters and creams are fairly easy to manage; however children are much more physically active. Before and after images link at abc.net.au. All that said to say…you’re not alone, others called it Monkey Blood too! Moreover, there’s boric acid powder in my cabinet. As Mercurochrome is an anti-septic the development of an infection should be relatively low. Which leads me to a few other facts about the once ubiquitous Mercurochrome. Readily available in most countries, it is no longer sold in Switzerland, Brazil, France, Iran, Germany, and the United States due to its mercury content. ScienceBlogs is where scientists communicate directly with the public. Neither was particularly a great antiseptic. While many adults are familiar with Mercurochrome and feel comfortable using it there are also reasons for caution. The beginning of an infection may be difficult to see at best and the coloring of Mercurochrome may make this even more difficult. I was raised in South Texas and we too called it “monkey blood” as well.

She was from the ARK-LA-TEX area. 's editorial policy editorial process and privacy policy. It’s similar to the difference between tincture of iodine and Isodine. • Very slow healing However, many loyalists hunt down the product despite that. With intense beams of x-rays at…, By Joe Schwarcz PhD, Author, USASEF Expo Performer, AT&T Sponsored Nifty Fifty Program SpeakerPhysicians today are unlikely to encounter "Gilder's palsy." And tell her you inspired me to write it! Mercurochrome is considered as a mercury compound and was hence banned in the United States lately because of fear of mercury poisoning [17]. DO NOT use it to treat or manage an actual poison exposure.

Aronson JK. Drugs.com provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products.

Masks Significantly Reduce Spread Of COVID-19 - Are Laws Needed? But there's no reason to feel nostalgic. Leaving aside obvious quacks, such as some of…, From the Washington Post: Ferdinand II* ( Log Out /  However, all of the really great home remedies have been banned or mucked up by the FDA in some way that the really great DIY first aid supplies are made worthless. Is it different from boric acid solution?

The FDA banned the use of merthiolate in over-the-counter products in the late 1990s. 16th ed. There were no takers, which means that we'll probably never be quite so colorfully antiseptic again.

Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. As so little mercury is actually in Mercurochrome many people feel that it is not a real danger. "There was an article in the Huffington Post not long ago about an extreme worst case scenario with the oil spill - that a giant methane bubble bursts through the sea floor, ignites, causes a huge supersonic tsunami that would wipe out all of Florida,…, As a dedicated chemistry nut - I mean, of course, enthusiast - I've recently wondered if my favorite science could explain the existence of zombies. Hey, thanks for catching me on that one. The United States Food and Drug Administration banned the use of Merthiolate in over-the-counter products in the late 1990s due to its potential to initiate a wide variety of side effects. To affect testing, the FDA pulled the GRAS status and classified mercurochrome as a "new drug" in 1998, which meant that anyone wanting to sell it …

Seems they contain worrisome ingredients known as … Is this a regional thing? As a consequence, certain foods, such as caviar, produced for sale in the U.S. contain higher levels of salt to assist preservation. Merthiolate is a trade name for thimerosal, a compound containing mercury and sodium. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. ( Log Out /  There's a kind of necessary solitude, the need for a clear space. Maybe it’s a “southern thing.” Our family doctor, who was born and raised in North Texas, never heard it called “monkey blood.”. I grew up in the ARK-LA-TEX also and didn’t even realize that “monkey blood” wasn’t a universal term.

My parents always had mercurochrome because it didn’t sting. Thimerosal. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed it from the "generally recognized as safe" and into the 'untested' classification to effectively halt its distribution in the United States in 1998 over fears of potential mercury poisoning.

Updated June 23, 2005. • The development of rotten-smelling pus or pus that is yellow, green or brown. Waltham, MA: Elsevier; 2016:844-852. I grew up in Florida, my boys grew up in Alabama, and lots of Merthiolate and Mercurochrome were used over the years. I just read that Mercurochrome/Monkey Blood was banned by the FDA due to very trace amounts of mercury in the antiseptic. • Swelling It has been shown to harm the kidneys, heart, lungs immune system and even the brain. And as a dedicated fan of early 20th century murder mysteries, I still remember a tale by writer Mignon Eberhart in which a killer painted her lips with Mercurochrome rather than lipstick (which turned out to be a vital clue in solving the case).

This in turn can cause death. The fact that Mercurochrome contains mercury has resulted in it being banned in France, the USA and Germany. Global initiative IDs keys that could unlock better personalized cancer treatments, Six-Year MiSight contact lens study: 23% of eyes showed no additional myopia progression, Black and Asian patients have increased risk of severe COVID-19 at different stages of the disease. At my home office, this usually means me telling the…, I started Speakeasy Science in late January on my author website. The following information is helpful for emergency assistance: However, DO NOT delay calling for help if this information is not immediately available.  Science tells us that if you once were painted with Mercurochrome, your body has probably stored at least a trace of it for you -  nothing apparently too dangerous, just a reminder of your chemical past. I always dreaded that stuff. Merthiolate is a mercury-containing substance that was once widely used as germ-killer and a preservative in many different products, including vaccines. While creams are easy to use, this requires a plaster to keep the wound clean and the cream on the skin. Was there any particular reason to call it “monkey” blood or could it have been anything, like “zombie” blood, for example. The amount of mercury in Mercurochrome is around 1%, less than in some fish dishes.

I'm going to forward this story to my mom now! By that time, mercury's reputation was far less medicinal. In oriental cooking it is mostly used for its texturing properties. She called it hóng hóng (red red) and it seemed a way in which she could re-paint the blood of our injuries with the antiseptic promise of 1950's American medical progress. While treating your child with Mercurochrome be sure to check their wounds for signs infection regularly and with care.

One hurts like hell, the other like a motherfucker. In the earth's crust, it anchors itself by bonding with other elements, creating materials like the rough coppery rock cinnabar, a crystalline combination of mercury and sulfur. If you choose to use Mercurochrome it is important to use it in small doses and in the correct way. She always called it “Monkey Blood”. Contributions are fully tax-deductible. Also, the link in the OP didn’t take me anywhere useful. All rights reserved. Hi Greg, I am a GP and have continued to use mercurochrome on my kids (much to their dismay, no other primary school kids were turning up painted bright red) and was recommending it to patients, but often got the comment that people thought it was banned.  For a while it was the most popular antiseptic used. Mercury and mercurial salts.

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. Did contain mercury, I’m sure it and other “tissue poisons” aren’t used anymore. Furthermore, I don’t see how mercurochrome, a substance purchased at a drugstore or pharmacy, magically better than “modern” first-aid supplies which are, last I checked, substances that are purchased at a drugstore or pharmacy. Cecil Adams on The Straight Dope says that Mercurochrome was banned from being sold over-the-counter in 1998 by the FDA. Raised in New Mexico and I got plenty of monkey blood for my cuts. Due to some reports of mercury poisoning related to the use of Mercurochrome, the FDA re-classified it as a drug in 1998, meaning that someone has to prove it is safe for use before it can be sold again. Symptoms will be treated as appropriate.

It left an orange stain, but worked great.

ScienceBlogs is a registered trademark of Science 2.0, a science media nonprofit operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. I can find no information on Boric Acid being banned, and it seems to be available at hardware stores locally here in CA - are you sure? All local poison control centers in the United States use this national number. And the jar of liquid mercury in the basement, and all those Fresca™s! Change ). Please make a tax-deductible donation if you value independent science communication, collaboration, participation, and open access. My mom put monkey blood on my cuts. The FDA shut mercurochrome down because it contains mercury which is highly toxic. Although no one has definitively linked Mercurochrome™ to mercury poisoning, presumably because the metal is only present in trace amounts, many people prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to mercury. The country’s Directorate of Consumer Protection warns of the risk of liver cancer with high consumption over a period of 5–10 years.[12]. The second reason why some are sceptical about using Mercurochrome is that it colors the skin. [1] Funny how it's OK to administer vaccines with Thimerosal, and how even "silver" amalgams are readily available in dentistry, but Mercurochrome is banned because of mercury content. What makes a physician become an antivaxer?

Currently the use of mercurochrome is controversial, and even banned in some countries. But there's a simple physics reason that they…, Elemental mercury is a slippery substance. But that old fluoroscope in the basement… we had a ball with that!

But in 1998, the FDA decided that reducing mercury exposure just made sense and reclassified the antiseptic as an "untested" drug, meaning that anyone seeking to sell it in the U.S. would need to go through a new approval process. For no apparent reason, this was always called monkey blood. First, the FDA banned and stopped the sale of both Merthiolate and Mercurochrome in the 1990s. Merthiolate is a trade name for thimerosal, a compound containing mercury and sodium. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. I am shocked, shocked I tells ya, that something with “mercuro–” at the beginning of its name would contain mercury. You can also shop using Amazon Smile and though you pay nothing more we get a tiny something. In elementary school, anyone who skinned a hand or knee out on the playground would be sent to the nurse’s office to get some kind of yellow disinfectant sprayed on the wound. No one really one is certain of the risks that might follow painting Mercurochrome on skin. Mercurochrome dries quickly and is therefore a lot easier to use on open wounds. How well a person does depends on the amount of poison swallowed and how quickly treatment was received. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Copyright 1997-2020, A.D.A.M., Inc. :dubious: Whatever, it was a great product, it was used on me a LOT when I was a kiddle and never did I even remotely get mercury poisoning. Almost every kid I knew growing up in the 1960s had tribal streaks of Mercurochrome over scratches and scrapes.

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