根據最近一項針對官方提供有關6,000多名美國婦女的數據所做的分析報告顯示，美國女性血液中的無機汞自1999年以來便不斷上升，而且發現每3位婦女中就有1位婦女的血液裏含汞。
洛杉磯加州大學大衛格芬（David Geffen）醫學院神經科學研究員，也是本書的作者臘克斯（Dan Laks）表示：「我的研究充分證明人體內的無機汞淤積物是經年累月積累而成的結果。其中隨著時間的推移，年齡漸長及體内含有無機汞的人口也隨之增加。」
在另一項統計分析中，臘克斯發現年齡較長婦女血液中的無機汞比年紀輕的婦女來得高，這表示血液中的汞是經過一段時間積累而來的。
臘克斯針對位於亞特蘭大的美國疾病控制與預防中心（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention，CDC）提供的數據進行計算分析。CDC的國民健康與營養檢驗調查（National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey），通稱為NHANES，是臘克斯在評估具指標性的美國團體或族群他們的健康狀況和風險時所謂的「黃金標準。」此外，面談和體檢雙管齊下是NHANES獨特的地方。
NHANES的數據還經過設計和調查結果加權計算，因此得到的分析結果適用於全國的人口。
臘克斯檢驗了NHANES裏，介於1999年到2006年，6,168名年齡18到49歲婦女血液中的無機汞數據。約有1,455至1,622之間的婦女被分配在以兩年爲一期的配對組中進行實驗。
相較於1999-2000年的研究結果，顯示只有2%的婦女血液中有無機汞的跡象，2005-2006年間的研究結果，卻有高達30%的婦女被檢測出血液裏含無機汞，5年之間的差異極大。
儘管人類長期曝露於有機汞形式（透過攝取魚類）和元素汞形式（透過吸入的空氣和牙科用汞合金）當中，目前有充分的資料證明血液中累積的無機汞是長期接觸有機汞和元素汞的最佳生物指標。
臘克斯解釋說，由於有機汞存留在體內的時間只有短短數個月，因此並不是一個好的指標。
臘克斯表示，他的分析説明了「血液中無機汞的檢測和汞攻擊的主要器官及系統目標如：肝臟、免疫系統，及腦下垂體的生物標記平均濃度」之間的關係。
臘克斯的報告引用了許多其它發現長期性接觸汞與自閉症風險升高、精神障礙及神經退化性疾病如阿爾茨海默氏症相關的研究結果。
The level of inorganic mercury in the blood of American women has been increasing since 1999 and it is now found in the blood of one in three women, according to a new analysis of government data for more than 6,000 American women.
"My study found compelling evidence that inorganic mercury deposition within the human body is a cumulative process, increasing with age and overall in the population over time," said author Dan Laks, a neuroscience researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In a separate statistical analysis, he found that older women had more inorganic mercury in their blood than younger women, indicating that mercury accumulates in the blood over time.
Laks conducted computer analyses of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, usually called NHANES, is what Laks calls the "gold standard" in assessing the health status and health risks to a representative group of Americans.
NHANES is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations. NHANES data also are designed and survey weighted so that results can be generalized to the nation's entire population.
Laks examined data on blood inorganic mercury levels of 6,168 women, ages 18-49, in NHANES two year data sets from 1999 through 2006. Between 1,455 and 1,622 women were in each two-year matched group.
Inorganic mercury was detected in the blood of 30 percent of women studied in 2005-2006, a steep rise from the two percent of women who were found to have inorganic mercury in their blood in the 1999-2000 study.
While people face chronic exposure from both the organic mercury form, due to consumption of fish, and the elemental form, due to inhalation from air, and dental amalgams, there is strong evidence that inorganic mercury concentration in the blood is the best bioindicator of chronic exposure to both organic and elemental mercury forms.
Organic mercury is a poor indicator of exposure as it remains in the body for just a few months, Laks explains.
Laks says his analysis indicates associations of "both blood inorganic mercury detection and average concentration with biomarkers for the main organs and systems which mercury targets: the liver, the immune system, and the pituitary gland."
His study cites numerous other research that has found chronic mercury exposure associated with elevated risks for autism, mental impairment and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
