I have studied up on activated charcoal on it's unique abilities to absorb poisons and chemicals when ingested. I know that if you accidentally ingest a poison that at the hospital they immediately give you a slurry solution(a drink) of activated charcoal and then observe you for a number of hours. BUT, soaking up mercury is not one of activated charcoals best things it does. It really soaks up mercury very poorly. I had ivestigated this same thing as the cost of algin was very high for it's dosing. Also when using activated charcoal, you need to take more trace minerals since some of these are absorbed by AC easily. As far as I can tell, algin is the real deal when it comes to mercury absorption!