Alteration of cell membrane selective permeability.
This limits what the cell can ingest in the form of nutrients and how the cell can eliminate toxins such
as mercury.
Rupturing of the cell membranes.
Cells have membranes in order to confine certain enzymes and chemicals that have assigned duties. When
the cell membrane ruptures (which can happen when mercury attaches to the membrane) these chemicals are
released into the body and do damage to whatever tissue they touch.
Interference with hormone function.
Mercury does not always kill cells. It may combine with hormones and prevent them from acting properly
- even though the blood tests show adequate levels, one can be deficient due to mercury's ability to
inactivate the hormone.
Hemoglobin interference.
In the same fashion, mercury can combine with the oxygen carrying sites on hemoglobin. The body
compensates by building more red blood cells, thus giving the appearance of adequate hemoglobin,
although the oxygen saturation is low. The result is chronic fatigue not confirmed by red cell
counts, so the patient is told their fatigue is "all in their head", and referred to a psychiatrist.
Creation of autoimmune diseases.
By combining with a cell's exclusive code (called the major histocompatibility complex), mercury gives
the cell the appearance of being "non-self" as compared to "self", and gives instructions to the immune
system to destroy that cell. This is one origin of "autoimmune disease" such as diabetes, multiple
sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, seizures, arthritis, Parkinson's and a host of others.
Destruction of DNA.
Mercury can either destroy DNA entirely, or just break one filament of the two filament system. This
is called a single strand break (SSB). The single strand break can lead to a combination with another
SSB and produce a double DNA, which is a malignancy, or it can cause birth defects.
