Question from Cindy
Hi Debra,
I have been wearing orthotics in my shoes for the past 5 years. Recently, I found out that the owner of the company could no longer provide his orthotics, because the rubber in the middle layer of this product contains mercury, and has been banned. I have been able to walk pain-free in these orthotics, so am dismayed, but I am also concerned if the mercury is capable of leaching out into my foot. I wear these everyday, all day. Am I in danger of mercury poisoning?
Thank you so much.
Debra’s Answer
First of all, I went searching online, but couldn’t find any reference to mercury in orthotics. FYI here’s a list of materials used to make orthotics. Mercury isn’t included. This doesn’t mean YOUR orthotics do not contain mercury, it just isn’t common.
And you mentioned it was in the middle layer. So you would have had no skin contact. The mercury would have had to have been outgassing for you to be exposed, in which case you would have inhaled it.
There are many types of mercury, from the elemental particle to oxidized vapor, and each will enter your body and move through it in different ways, with different effects.
I doubt this mercury has had any effect on your health, but if they have banned it, there is a reason.
I would suggest you go back to them and ask what form of mercury was used and why it was banned.
Then you could go online and look for the toxicokinetics for that type of mercury.
You can look up this kind of information for any chemical by searching for “toxicokinetics” name of chemical”.
Toxicokinetics is a description of the routes by which a chemical enters the body, the rate of entry, and what occurs to metabolize and excrete the chemical once it is in the body.
As long as you know the exact chemical in the exposure, you should be able to find it’s toxicokinetics.
