Kristin Gale Homme passed away on January 13, 2024 at age 67 under the care of hospice following a longstanding, complex illness.

Influenced by her parents, she sought to make the world a better place in both her profession and her activism. Her interest in energy and the environment led her to her first career in electric supply planning at Pacific Gas and Electric.  In 1990, at age 33, she lost her central vision to macular degeneration.  Using modern vision aids and the support of her partner, Mark, she earned master’s degrees in both public policy and public health at the University of California, Berkeley.  She never returned to work due to increasing health problems.  

In 2008, she learned she had chronic mercury toxicity (confirmed by an obscure medical test called the porphyrins panel), apparently from her twelve mercury dental amalgams, despite their official designation as safe and effective. Armed with this explanation for her illness and after remediating her amalgams safely, she began reading and writing about mercury toxicity.  She founded a local mercury exposure support group that met until the COVID shutdown.  In 2010, with the help of her husband, Mark, Ms. Homme traveled to Washington DC to testify at the FDA’s public hearing on dental amalgam.  The issue remained stalled at the FDA for 10 more years. In 2011, she attempted to shepherd a mercury awareness ordinance through the City of Berkeley but was thwarted by the California Dental Association and its influence on both state and city politicians.  

In 2014, her scientific review article, “New science challenges old notion that mercury dental amalgam is safe” was published in a scientific, peer-reviewed journal  (PubMed 24420334).   Collaborating with others, she coauthored several more scientific papers on both mercury dental amalgam and vaccine mercury (Thimerosal) that can be found in the National Library of Medicine, available through PubMed.  She also coauthored “Mercury: The quintessential anti-nutrient” for the lay audience, published in 2017, which can be found on the Internet.  In 2020, the FDA finally issued a recommendation against amalgam for so-called sensitive groups, which comprise half the population.

As recently as October 2022, she struggled to continue her outreach with a presentation on the role of chronic mercury poisoning and Alzheimer’s disease at the annual conference of the Weston A. Price Foundation.  That year, Kris reluctantly left Mark to resume normal activities to make the most of her remaining time, while he continued and continues to shelter.  She was unable to live alone due to increasing dementia, so she tried a care home but eventually recruited her colleague and new love, Steve, to share a home.  In her last months, she enjoyed helping Steve with his upcoming paper on the role of mercury in Alzheimer’s disease.  She has left funds for worthy proposals for science writing about the role of mercury toxicity in chronic illness, particularly in neuro-degeneration, sensory processing loss, mental health, chronic fatigue, and dementia.  

Kris Homme lived by the hero’s code – using her technical skills and discretionary energy to build a better world. She worked tirelessly to fight the travesty of routine mercury exposures from medical and dental procedures.  Had she been healthier, the world would have benefited even more from her extraordinary social conscience, intellect, and activism.  During COVID, she endured a lengthy ostracism from several groups including her church, as well as society at large, over her science-based stance as a conscientious objector to vaccine mandates. Whether this contributed to her decline we will never know. She leaves behind a legacy of work that may help others recognize and address the role of toxic exposures like mercury in the epidemic of chronic illnesses. Her work also demonstrates the need to recognize the changing nature of scientific truth as it evolves over time.  One reason she and her colleagues were able to make a difference in the world was that the issue of mercury in medicine and dentistry is not funded or otherwise pursued within establishment science, leaving opportunities for dedicated individuals to do the work.  

Kris did find comfort in the bountiful support of close friends and family.  This, along with her extensive health practices, likely kept her going years longer than others with similar conditions.  Unfortunately, she felt increasingly unable to reciprocate the love and attention from her friends and family. “I wanted to be there for you always but have been so incapacitated in both my energy and cognition that I couldn’t plan, much less carry out my intentions, to be present and loving in the ways I wanted.” 

She is survived by her brother, Erik, mother, Virginia, dear but estranged husband, Mark, two step-children, 4 grandchildren, and her new love, Steve. For more information about her complex illness, contact her best friend, Nori.

Memorial donations may be made to the National Vaccine Information Center, the Health Freedom Defense Fund, the Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy24.com, or the charity of your choice.  A memorial service is planned sometime in late spring/early summer.   

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