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Mercurochrome is the trade name of merbromin antiseptic tinctures made of merbromin and alcohol or water (usually 2% merbromin to 98% alcohol or water).
Its antiseptic qualities were discovered by Johns Hopkins doctor Hugh Young in 1919. The chemical soon became popular among parents and doctors for everyday antiseptic uses and it was very commonly used for minor injuries in the schoolyard, where children nicknamed the tincture 'Monkey Blood'. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed it from the "generally recognized as safe" and into the 'untested' classification to effectively halt its distribution in the United States in the 1990s over fears of potential mercury poisoning. It is readily available in most other countries.
Cultural references
- Mercurochrome is mentioned several times in Joseph Heller's 1955 novel Catch-22.
- A 1973 episode of M*A*S*H (5 O'Clock Charlie), an inept North Korean pilot, known as "5 O'Clock Charlie", makes his daily attempt to bomb the ammo dump. Frank puts in a request for an anti-aircraft gun, which is granted when Charlie hits General Clayton's jeep. Frank takes charge of the gun, while Hawkeye and Trapper are determined to prevent him using it, by getting rid of the ammo dump by painting sheets with mercurochrome to make a large bullseye. Frank misses Charlie but destroys the dump.
- In the 1986 film The Golden Child, Eddie Murphy's character asks the villain for mercurochrome after receiving an arm wound during a dream sequence.
- In the musical and movie RENT, Angel sings in "Today 4 U" the line, "the nurse took him home for some mercurochrome, and I dressed his wounds and got him back on his feet..."
- In Robert Altman's film O.C. and Stiggs, Mercurochrome is mentioned in a pre-wedding sequence, when it is jokingly suggested to add mercurochrome dots to a bandage covering a cyst.
External links
Antiseptics | Mercury compounds | Oxygen heterocycles | Organobromides | Fluorone dyes
"Mercurochrome"