Product Source and History
   The magnesium salt used for the ZECHMAG products are sourced from the Zechstein Sea. This sea, 250 million years ago, occupied the region of what is now the North Sea plus the lowland areas of Britain and the north European plain through the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Through evaporation and earth movements, the water in the sea disappeared and the salt was covered, creating the deep underground deposits. That is why the magnesium chloride salt from this source is so pure. It has never been in contact with the modern day environment and has no impurities such as acid rain and heavy metals found in surface seawater. The type of salt found here is called BISCHOFITE. This is a saline evaporite, consisting of Magnesium Chloride with the formula MgCI2-6H20. This very high quality type of magnesium salt was discovered by Karl Gustav Bischof (1792-1870) a German geologist and mineral chemist at the University of Bonn in Germany.

Some History on the use of Magnesium Chloride
(excerpts from a article by Dr. Raul Vergini, MD)
   Back in 1915, a French surgeon, Prof. Pierre Delbet,MD, was looking for a solution to cleanse wounds, because he had found out that the traditional antiseptic solutions actually mortified tissues and facilitated the infection instead of preventing it.

He tested several mineral solutions and discovered that a Magnesium Chloride solution was not only harmless for tissues, but it had also a great effect over leucocytic activity and phagocytosis; so it was perfect for external wounds treatment.

Dr.Delbet performed a lot of "in vitro" and "in vivo" experiments with this solution and he became aware that it was good not only for external applications, but it was also a powerful immuno-stimulant if taken by injections or even by mouth. He called this effect "cytophilaxis". In some "in vivo" experiments it was able to increase phagocytosis rate up to 300%.

Dr.Delbet serendipitously discovered that this oral solution had also a tonic effect on many people and so became aware that the Magnesium Chloride had an effect on the whole organism. In a brief time, he received communications of very good therapeutics effects of this "therapy" from people that were taking Magnesium Chloride for its tonic properties and who were suffering from various ailments. Prof.Delbet began to closely study the subject and verified that the Magnesium Chloride solution was a very good therapy for a long list of diseases.

In 1943 another French doctor, A.Neveu,MD, used the Magnesium Chloride solution in a case of diphteria to reduce the risks of anaphylactic reaction due to the anti-diphteric serum that he was ready to administer. To his great surprise, when the next day the laboratory results confirmed the diagnosis of diphteria, the little girl was completely cured, before he could use the serum.

He credited the immuno-stimulant activity to the solution for this result, and he tested it in some other diphteric patients. All the patients were cured in a very short time (24-48 hours), with no after-effects.

As Magnesium Chloride has no direct effect on bacteria (i.e.it is not an antibiotic), Neveu thought that its action was aspecific, immuno-enhancing, so it could be useful, in the same manner, also against viral diseases. So he began to treat some cases of poliomyelitis, and had the same wonderful results.

But the indications for Magnesium Chloride therapy don't end here. In more recent years other physicians have verified many of Delbet's and Neveu's applications and have tried the therapy in other pathologies: asthmatic acute attack, shock, tetanus (for these the solution is administered by intravenous injection); herpes zoster, acute and chronic conjunctivitis, optic neuritis, rheumatic diseases, many allergic diseases, spring- asthenia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (even in cancer it can be an useful adjuvant.

From a practical standpoint, please remember that only Magnesium CHLORIDE has this "cytophilactic" activity, and no other magnesium salt; probably it's a molecular, and not a merely ionic, matter.

History on the Magnesium Chloride sourced from the underground  Zechstein Sea
In the late 70”s, while drilling for natural gas in the northern province of Groningen, Shell discovered the layer of mineral bischofite.

In 1979, Shell and Billiton formed a company. A mining operation was developed together with a processing facility and production started in 1981

In 1994 the company was sold and changed names with the new owners working on improving the mining technology and getting a higher quality product.

In 2001 Calcium Chloride was added to the product mix and the improved mining and processing systems improved the quality of the salts.

In 2004 the company became aware of the transdermal application possibility and their efforts were quickly recognized by the health sector as very beneficial for human supplementation and dealing with the magnesium deficiency found in so many people.

Health professionals throughout the world have become aware of the many advantages of transdermal application of Magnesium Chloride and in 2007 Dr. Mark Sircus, AC., O.M.D. wrote the book “TRANSDERMAL MAGNESIUM THERAPY,” that is fast becoming a best seller.

Quick Facts on Zechstein Magnesium Chloride Deposits:
   * The formation of magnesium chloride from the ancient Zechstein Sea is over 250 million years old.
    * The disappearance of the once active Zechstein Sea into an inactive subterranean geological formation is due to a general marine regression that accompanied the most severe extinction event in the history of Earth – known as the Permian-Triassic extinction event.
    * Zechstein magnesium chloride deposits are mined approximately 2 kilometers beneath the surface of the earth.
    * The Zechstein Sea was located in the Northern part of Europe, in the European Permian Basin, extending from the eastern coast of England to Northern Poland.
    * The Ancient Zechstein Sea has been kept unadulterated from modern contaminants for the past 250 million years due to deep subterranean isolation.
    * The term “Zechstein” is German for “tough stone,” yet also corresponds to a unit of time in the geologic timetable.
    * Zechstein magnesium salts are directly extracted from the earth by a process known as solution mining.