This rich ethnographic and socio-historical account uncovers how toxicity and
safety are expressed transculturally in a globalizing world. For the first time, it
unpacks the pharmaceutical nexus of mercury in Tibetan medicine (Sowa Rigpa)
where, since the thirteenth century, it has mainly been used in the form of tsotel.
Tsotel, an organometallic mercury sulfide compound, is added in small amounts to
specific medicines to enhance the potency of other ingredients. In concordance with
tantric Buddhist ideas, Tibetan medical practitioners confront and tame poisonous
substances, and instead of avoiding or expelling them, transform them into potent
medicines and elixirs. Recently, the UN Environment Programmes global ban on
mercury, the Minamata convention, has sparked debates on the use of mercury in Asian
medicines. As Asian medical traditions increasingly intersect with biomedical
science and technology, what is at stake when Tibetan medical practitioners in India
and Nepal, researchers, and regulators negotiate mercurys toxicity and safety? Who
determines what is toxic and what is safe, and how? What does this mean for the
future of traditional Asian medical and pharmaceutical practices?