Hi Robert, thanks for posting this! Yes, it makes me feel old but so many things do these days. I still say, "roll down the car windows," for instance. I won't miss mercurochrome but I do prefer the standard glass thermometers over the digital. I'm holding on to mine until it breaks and I hope that won't be any time soon.
Cheers,
Beverly
Peace, please!
--- On Mon, 2/7/11, Robert Mace <agentid44@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> From: Robert Mace <agentid44@sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: [tropical fish club] Mercurochrome ? You Can't get it anymore....
> To: tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Monday, February 7, 2011, 2:38 PM
> Got this from doing a search for
> "Mercurochrome" so please read the
> whole letter for your answer...Sorry this sorta long...
> Robert Mace
>
> I had skin surgery recently and was told to apply
> Mercurochrome to aid
> in scarless healing. The product, once widely available, is
> sold by only
> one vendor in Boise, and I'm told they manufacture their
> own. Another
> pharmacist told me they were not allowed to handle or sell
> it. What
> happened to this antiseptic that I grew up with?
>
> --- David Young, Boise, Idaho
>
> You're dating yourself, pops. Few under age 30 have ever
> heard of this
> stuff. In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
> declared that
> Mercurochrome, generically known as merbromin, was "not
> generally
> recognized as safe and effective" as an over-the-counter
> antiseptic and
> forbade its sale across state lines. A few traditionalists
> complained:
> Whaddya mean, not generally recognized as safe? Moms have
> been daubing
> it on their kids' owies since the Harding administration!
> But the more
> reasonable reaction was: It's about time.
>
> For many years the FDA, faced with the task of regulating
> thousands of
> pharmaceuticals and food additives, many of which long
> predated federal
> oversight, has maintained the so-called GRAS (generally
> recognized etc)
> list, originally compiled as a way of grandfathering in
> products like
> Mercurochrome that had been around for ages and hadn't hurt
> or killed a
> noticeable number of people. Recognizing that from a
> scientific
> standpoint such a standard left a lot to be desired, the
> FDA has been
> whittling away at the unexamined products on the GRAS list
> over time.
> Mercurochrome and other drugs containing mercury came up
> for scrutiny as
> part of a general review of over-the-counter antiseptics
> that began in
> 1978, and for good reason--mercury in large enough doses is
> a poison
> that harms the brain, the kidneys, and developing fetuses.
> While no
> one's offered evidence of mass Mercurochrome poisoning, the
> medical
> literature contains scattered reports of mercury toxicity
> due to use of
> the antiseptic, and these days the burden of proof is on
> drug
> manufacturers to show that their products' benefits
> outweigh the risks.
> In the case of Mercurochrome and many other
> mercury-containing
> compounds, that had never been done.
>
> The FDA initially proposed clipping Mercurochrome's GRAS
> status in 1982
> and asked for comment. Hearing little, the FDA classified
> the antiseptic
> as a "new drug," meaning that anyone proposing to sell it
> nationwide had
> to submit it to the same rigorous approval process required
> of a drug
> invented last month. (This took place in 1998--nobody's
> going to accuse
> the FDA of rushing to judgment.) It's not out of the
> question that a
> pharmaceutical company will do so someday--published
> research on
> Mercurochrome, though hardly abundant, suggests the stuff
> is reasonably
> effective. However, the approval process is time-consuming
> and expensive
> and any patent protection Mercurochrome might once have had
> surely
> expired long ago. For the foreseeable future those yearning
> for that
> delicious Mercurochrome sting will have to look somewhere
> else.
>
> Other notes from the mercury wars, as long as we're on the
> subject:
>
> * Already illegal in some states and
> municipalities, mercury fever
> thermometers appear to be headed for
> history's dustbin. The U.S.
> Senate approved a federally mandated
> phase-out in 2002, although
> the bill didn't make it through the
> House. Even in jurisdictions
> where mercury thermometers are still
> legal, many drugstores are
> dropping them in favor of the digital
> electronic type, which are
> unarguably safer--although you don't
> get to play with those cool
> quicksilver globules when they break.
> * Despite two decades of controversy and
> threatened legislative
> bans, amalgam ("silver") tooth
> fillings, which are half mercury,
> are still a mainstay of dentistry.
> Although some health activists
> claim the mercury leaches out of the
> fillings and into the body,
> the FDA in a 2002 statement reaffirmed
> the mainstream view, to
> wit: "No valid scientific evidence has
> shown that amalgams cause
> harm to patients with dental
> restorations, except in the rare case
> of allergy."
> * Thimerosal, a mercury-containing
> preservative in vaccines, is
> suspected of causing autism and other
> neurological disorders in
> children. A recent review by a panel
> of prominent scientists found
> no evidence for the much-publicized
> autism link; nonetheless
> thimerosal is no longer used in most
> vaccines, flu shots being the
> chief exception.
> * More than 30 years after the alarm was
> first raised, mercury
> accumulation in fish remains the chief
> source of exposure to the
> toxic metal in the U.S. The FDA
> advises that pregnant women, women
> who may become pregnant, nursing
> mothers, and young children avoid
> shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and
> tilefish entirely and limit
> consumption of albacore tuna (canned
> white tuna and tuna steaks)
> to 6 ounces (one meal) per week.
> Canned light tuna, shrimp,
> salmon, pollock, and catfish are said
> to be OK for up to 12 ounces
> per week. Some say even these
> guidelines, particularly the one for
> albacore, are too permissive. I'm not
> one to encourage the
> paranoids, but when you look at some
> of the brain-damaged
> decisions that get made in this
> country, often you can't help but
> think somebody's mom ate too much
> fish.
>
> --- Cecil Adams
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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