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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