Manganese Overview

The Violence Research Foundation believes that research at major universities has uncovered an unrecognized stealth neurotoxin in the environment–MANGANESE.   Manganese is an essential element for healthy human development but neurotoxic when present in excess of biological needs.  Manganese acts as a catalyst in over 25 processes in the human body.  Every cell in the body requires manganese to function properly.  Excessive exposure to manganese can create severe biochemical imbalances.  These imbalances include attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), aberrant, violent behaviors, and other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s and Manganism, as well as cancer. 

Manganese (Mn) is the twelfth most common element in the Earth's crust.  It is found in soil, water, plants, and animals, as well as air particles.  Excessive exposure to manganese can occur through many infant formulas and foods, drinking water sources and ambient (airborne) sources.  Manganese can be found in groundwater as a result of: (1) naturally occurring manganese compounds in the bedrock, (2) its widespread use in the production of batteries and steel, and (3) its widespread use in pesticides and fertilizers. Ambient sources include industrial pollution. Workers mine and process manganese for various purposes and products like batteries, fertilizers, pesticides, ceramics, in the chlorine industry for bleach manufacture, and as a gasoline additive.  Manganese is the fourth most widely used metal in the world, after iron, aluminum and copper.  The primary industrial use of manganese is in the manufacture of steel.

Pure manganese is a silver-colored metal, similar to iron in its physical and chemical properties. Manganese does not occur in the environment as a pure metal, but is a component of more than 100 minerals, including sulfides, oxides, carbonates, silicates, phosphates, and borates. It is combined with other elements or chemicals such as oxygen, sulfur, and chlorine to make compounds that do not evaporate.

Over 2,200 years ago the Greeks noticed men who worked in manganese mines manifested significant neurological disorders such as the onset of Parkinson’s-type dementia (identified in 1993 by the National Institute of Health (NIH) as the condition known as Manganism) and aberrant and/or violent behavior.  They called the metal “Mangana”, which means the occult, voodoo or madness metal.  Exposure to excessive amounts of manganese has serious health consequences.

Some of the above information was taken from the Manganese Help Center.