Concept of Geomedicine and Medicinal Mineralogy

Abstract

Mineralogical factors of an environment have mainly some negative (irritating, toxic) effect on human health. Mineral-induced pathogeneses can be caused by a distant effect (radiation), a tactile one (contacting with easy soluble toxic minerals), through pneumonic (pneumoconiosises-silicosis, anthracosis, asbestosis, etc.) or food (toxic and traumatic exposure of mineral particles in the digestive tract) effects of minerals. The most natural reactions of a living organism on the interacting mineral individuals and aggregates are, commonly, destruction, rejection or conservation. The whole field of medical mineralogy includes preventive measures, mineralogical diagnostics of diseases, the mineralotherapy (psychotherapy and physiotherapy), mineralogical pharmacology, application of minerals in traumatology and as constituents of implantants, the mineral tooling and medicinal topomineralogy, which helps in prospecting deposits and resources of drug minerals.