Ask Dr. Louise

Fifteen years ago, my parents downsized and asked me to come over to help them clean out their medicine cabinet. On the top shelf, I found an old bottle of Mercurochrome®, a halfused tube of drawing salve, and a bottle of aspirin tablets so ancient that the label was almost completely faded. The only item on the shelf below was a battered green metal can of Bag Balm® that looked like they’d had it since I was born.

The active ingredients listed were “0.005% mercury from ethylated mercury sterols, petrolatum, and lanolin.” Mercury? REALLY? When I got home the next day, I found my own can of Bag Balm® and checked its label. I read, “ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate 0.3% in a petrolatum, lanolin base.” Whew!

In 1899, when John L. Norris purchased the formula that eventually became Bag Balm®, mercury compounds were commonly used as antiinfectives. I remember my mother painting my scrapes and cuts with the bright red liquid from a bottle of Mercurochrome®.

In the 1960s and 70s, both Mercurochrome® and its colorless cousin Merthiolate® were popular, topical antiseptics that contained mercury as their active ingredient. Unfortunately, mercury compounds aren’t very effective as anti-infectives. Not only that, but they may cause mercury toxicity if applied to large areas of broken skin or used over a long period. In 1992 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement that declared topical mercury compounds used as anti-infectives were neither safe nor effective.

In 1998, the FDA banned mercury compounds. The original formulas of Merthiolate® and Mercurochrome® disappeared from the shelves of pharmacies and grocery stores across America. When did Bag Balm® remove ethylated mercury from its formula? Going to the source, I called Lyndonville, Vermont, the home of the Dairy Association Company, Inc, manufacturers of Bag Balm®. I asked, “When did you swap out the mercury in your product for 8-hydroxyquinoline?

Did the FDA make you do it in 1998?” According to Charles Allen, Vice President of the Dairy Association Company, mercury was taken out of Bag Balm® in 1972. But what he said next really surprised me. “We didn’t add anything. The 8-hydroxyquinoline anti-infective was part of the formula from the very beginning.” Bag Balm® was initially marketed to dairy farmers to apply to cow udders as a protective. It helped keep the udders from getting chapped and encouraged the healing of minor cuts and scrapes.

Most of us recognize Bag Balm’s® distinctive green square metal can sold in 10-ounce and 1-ounce sizes. The Dairy Association Company, Inc continues to be family-owned. It manufactures and ships the ointment from its facility in Lyndonville, Vermont, all over the world. Although the label on each can states Veterinary Use Only, many folks use it on their own cuts and dry or chapped skin. I used Bag Balm® on myself several years ago to treat an inflamed cut on my ring finger.

Despite soaking the gash in Epsom salts and applying non-prescription antibiotics like Neosporin® ointment, it didn’t get better. When my finger started to swell and became painful, I set up an appointment with my doctor for the following day. That evening, with my finger now red, sore, and warm to the touch, I changed my strategy. I soaked my finger in Epsom salts like I had been doing. Then, as a last resort, I applied Bag Balm® instead of Neosporin® ointment.

After putting a fresh bandage over it, I went to bed. Not expecting any improvement, I was shocked when I removed my bandage the following morning. The redness was gone! And not just the redness, but the pain and swelling were significantly improved. Instead of getting worse, it had almost completely healed overnight.

Bag Balm® with its 8-hydroxyquinoline worked when days and days of Neosporin® didn’t. 8-hydroxyquinoline has an excellent reputation as a topical anti-infective and has been used in other nonprescription liquid bandage products such as New Skin®, Nexcare®, and Skin Shield®.

The 19th edition of the United States Dispensatory, published in 1907, describes 8-hydroxyquinoline as a “very powerful antiseptic.” 8-hydroxyquinoline binds to certain trace minerals on the surface of bacteria and fungi, transforming them into toxic compounds. This process interferes with the growth and replication of these organisms, and discourages infections. Compounds similar to 8-hydroxyquinoline are being studied to develop new weapons against “super-bugs” resistant to multiple antibiotics.

Dr. Louise Achey, Doctor of Pharmacy, is a 42-year veteran of pharmacology and author of Why Dogs Can’t Eat Chocolate: How Medicines Work and How YOU Can Take Them Safely. Get clear answers to your medication questions at her website and blog TheMedicationInsider.com. 2021 Louise Ache