mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (10/17/85)
In the past week, the health dept. has been confiscating stocks of two Mexican folk remedies: azogue and alarcon. Azogue is a diharrea (sp?) remedy usually given to babies. It is mercury in liquid metallic form. Alarcon is lead tetroxide. I don't know what it's used for. San Jose has a large Mexican community, many of whom are here illegally and therefore afraid to use the institutions of conventional medicine. Others are either unaware of the availability of free or low-cost care, or they place their confidence in the kind of medicine practiced back home. In college, I was once told by a professor (who may have been wrong) that liquid mercury is fairly inert and can be passed through the digestive system without harm. Is this true? Could azogue actually be harmless? Could it even be therapeutic? The newspapers have been whipping up alarm along the lines of "mercury given to babies". Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)