I originally thought the website Quackwatch was designed to help people by providing good information. After reading some of the articles, I think we need a Quackwatch II to monitor ridiculous sites such as this.

This article by Dr. Stephen Barrett appears to be intentionally misleading. It makes misleading references to the book by Hal Huggins entitled, It's All In Your Head, which is really an excellent and startling exposé on the effects of mercury poisoning from "silver" dental fillings. I've read the book myself and it was the first step on the road to my personal recovery.

This article by Dr. Stephen Barrett make quotes from the book that, although being accurate, are either taken out of context or have parts omitted that completely change the resulting conclusion of the statement (shame, shame, shame).

Shameful Omissions
"Sporadic and Unpredictable"

As an example, referring to the Huggins book, It's All In Your Head, the author makes this statement:

"Huggins says early results were 'sporadic and unpredictable'. At best only 10% of the patients responded."

The author fails to tell the rest of the story. On page 114, Huggins says,

"Looking back at the 1970s now, I know why my patients responded only 10% of the time".

Huggins goes on to explain what he learned that eventually led to the substantial increase in his success rate. On page 67, Huggins says,

"My success rate went up 50, 60, and 70 percent."

Unfortunately, the author of this article seems to feel that it's important to omit this information.

Shameful Omissions
Urine Mercury Levels

In another example of blatant context deviation, the author makes a statement that ridicules the fact that a low urine mercury level was used to diagnose a high mercury issue with the author himself when participating in a Huggins "assist" program.

The author failed to mention that Huggins' own research consistently concluded that a low urine mercury level when coupled with certain specific conditions in a hair analysis—which the author also provided to the "assist" program—have consistently been associated with high mercury-tissue content. This is because the cells in the body tend to "harbor" mercury in an apparent attempt to keep blood-mercury levels down.

Underlying Psychology
What They're Not Saying

It is very common these days to attach negative words or phrases—like "anti"—with people and concepts you are attempting to defame ("anti"-abortionist, "anti"-amalgamists, etc.). This has the effect of negatively prejudging the subject in the mind of the reader (note the name of the Quackwatch article). I most often, but not always find this technique used by those who are attempting to mute or distort the truth.

Remember this wisdom as stated by Schoepenhauer:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

Conclusions

There are a number of other shameful omissions in this article which, if the author actually read the book, would be impossible to make; Unless of course, they are intentional.

Unfortunately, I have to conclude that the author is intentionally misleading the public, and using the pretty letters after his name (MD) to attempt to maintain his thin veil of integrity.

It has been said that those who make false accusations are often guilty of the very thing they allege. This is a perfect example of this principle in action.