A comprehensive review of mercury provoked autism.
Indian J Med Res. 2008 Oct;128(4):383-411.
Geier DA, King PG, Sykes LK, Geier MR.
The Institute of Chronic Illnesses, Silver Spring, MD, USA. mgeier@comcast.net
Emerging evidence supports the theory that some autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may result from a combination of genetic/biochemical susceptibility, specifically a reduced ability to excrete mercury (Hg), and exposure to Hg at critical developmental periods. Elemental/inorganic Hg is released into the air/water where it becomes methylated and accumulates in animal tissues. The US population is primarily exposed to methyl-Hg by fish consumption. In addition, many pharmaceuticals have been, and some continue to be, a ubiquitous source of danger because they contain mercurials. Mercurials may be found in drugs for the eye, ear, nose, throat, and skin; in bleaching creams; as preservatives in cosmetics, tooth pastes, lens solutions, vaccines, allergy test and immunotherapy solutions; in antiseptics, disinfectants, and contraceptives; in fungicides and herbicides; in dental fillings and thermometers; and many other products. Hg has been found to cause immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioural dysfunctions similar to traits defining/associated with ASDs, and that these similarities extend to neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters, and biochemistry. Furthermore, a review of molecular mechanisms indicates that Hg exposure can induce death, disorganization and/or damage to selected neurons in the brain similar to that seen in recent ASD brain pathology studies, and this alteration may likely produce the symptoms by which ASDs are diagnosed. Finally, a review of treatments suggests that ASD patients who undergo protocols to reduce Hg and/or its effects show significant clinical improvements in some cases. In conclusion, the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence favours acceptance that Hg exposure is capable of causing some ASDs.
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Re: Blood levels of mercury are related to diagnosis of autism: a reanalysis of an important data set.
J Child Neurol. 2008 Apr;23(4):463; author reply 463-5.
Comment on: J Child Neurol. 2007 Nov;22(11):1308-11.
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Continuing increases in autism reported to California’s developmental services system: mercury in retrograde.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Jan;65(1):19-24.
Comment in:Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Jan;65(1):15-6.
Immunization Branch, California Department of Public Health, 850 Marina Bay Pkwy, Richmond, CA 94804, USA. R.Schechter@cdph.ca.gov
CONTEXT: Previous analyses of autism client data reported to the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) have been interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that autism is caused by exposure to the preservative thimerosal, which contains ethylmercury. The exclusion of thimerosal from childhood vaccines in the United States was accelerated from 1999 to 2001. The Immunization Safety Review Committee of the Institute of Medicine has recommended surveillance of trends in autism as exposure to thimerosal during early childhood has decreased. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether trends in DDS autism client data support the hypothesis that thimerosal exposure is a primary cause of autism. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Study of time trends in the prevalence by age and birth cohort of children with autism who were active status clients of the DDS from January 1, 1995, through March 31, 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Prevalence of autism among children with active status in the DDS. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of autism for children at each year of age from 3 to 12 years increased throughout the study period. The estimated prevalence of DDS clients aged 3 to 5 years with autism increased for each quarter from January 1995 through March 2007. Since 2004, the absolute increase and the rate of increase in DDS clients aged 3 to 5 years with autism were higher than those in DDS clients of the same ages with any eligible condition including autism. CONCLUSIONS: The DDS data do not show any recent decrease in autism in California despite the exclusion of more than trace levels of thimerosal from nearly all childhood vaccines. The DDS data do not support the hypothesis that exposure to thimerosal during childhood is a primary cause of autism.
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“Spins” of Omission”
Deirdre Imus January 16, 2008
To read the full story go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deirdre-imus/spins-of-omission_b_81891.html
In response to the California study, a man who knows quite a bit about toxicology in general and mercury specifically, Dr. Boyd Haley, Professor of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, wrote a critical analysis of the author’s findings. “The alarming concern is that these authors seem more involved in providing material saying thimerosal is safe than they are concerned with the obvious facts, openly presented in their own data on autism rates, which strongly indicate that increased rates of autism started with the CDC mandated vaccine program…Most [scientists] agree that a genetic predisposition is likely (like those that lead to low glutathione levels), but that a toxic exposure is absolutely needed…that this increased toxic exposure would have had to occur in all 50 states at about the same time as all states have reported similar increases in autism rates. Only something like the government recommended vaccine program fits this need for a time dependent, uniform exposure of a toxin throughout all the states.”
In spite of all these criticisms the California study confirms the nation is in the midst of a public health crisis for which we have been given no credible explanation.
Arthur Schopenauer, a world famous philosopher once said, “All truth passes through three phases. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident”.
The bottom line remains, the California study does not change the fact that thimerosal is mercury and, as the American Academy of Pediatrics has stated, “Mercury in all its forms is toxic.” No amount of epidemiological bookkeeping can replace sound clinical and toxicological research, with one exception; a comprehensive study on vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated populations.
Again quoting Dr. Haley, “Common sense would lead most to attack finding the cause of autism instead of trying to prove something besides thimerosal is causal. The major question is ‘are our vaccines causing autism’ -only comparing the non-vaccinated to the vaccinated will answer this question.”
Public health officials are rapidly losing the public’s trust. The California study will not bring it back. An independent study, by authors with no ties to industry or public health activities is the only way to settle the debate.
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Blood Levels of Mercury Are Related to Diagnosis of Autism: A Reanalysis of an Important Data Set
J Child Neurol. 2007 Nov;22(11):1308-11.
Comment in:
J Child Neurol. 2008 Apr;23(4):463; author reply 463-5.
M. Catherine DeSoto, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa, cathy.desoto@uni.edu
Robert T. Hitlan, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa
The question of what is leading to the apparent increase in autism is of great importance. Like the link between aspirin and heart attack, even a small effect can have major health implications. If there is any link between autism and mercury, it is absolutely crucial that the first reports of the question are not falsely stating that no link occurs. We have reanalyzed the data set originally reported by Ip et al. in 2004 and have found that the original p value was in error and that a significant relation does exist between the blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, the hair sample analysis results offer some support for the idea that persons with autism may be less efficient and more variable at eliminating mercury from the blood.
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A case series of children with apparent mercury toxic encephalopathies manifesting with clinical symptoms of regressive autistic disorders.
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007 May 15;70(10):837-51.
Institute of Chronic Illnesses, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
Impairments in social relatedness and communication, repetitive behaviors, and stereotypic abnormal movement patterns characterize autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). It is clear that while genetic factors are important to the pathogenesis of ASDs, mercury exposure can induce immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions similar to traits defining or associated with ASDs. The Institutional Review Board of the Institute for Chronic Illnesses (Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, IRB number IRB00005375) approved the present study. A case series of nine patients who presented to the Genetic Centers of America for a genetic/developmental evaluation are discussed. Eight of nine patients (one patient was found to have an ASD due to Rett’s syndrome) (a) had regressive ASDs; (b) had elevated levels of androgens; (c) excreted significant amounts of mercury post chelation challenge; (d) had biochemical evidence of decreased function in their glutathione pathways; (e) had no known significant mercury exposure except from Thimerosal-containing vaccines/Rho(D)-immune globulin preparations; and (f) had alternate causes for their regressive ASDs ruled out. There was a significant dose-response relationship between the severity of the regressive ASDs observed and the total mercury dose children received from Thimerosal-containing vaccines/Rho (D)-immune globulin preparations. Based upon differential diagnoses, 8 of 9 patients examined were exposed to significant mercury from Thimerosal-containing biologic/vaccine preparations during their fetal/infant developmental periods, and subsequently, between 12 and 24 mo of age, these previously normally developing children suffered mercury toxic encephalopathies that manifested with clinical symptoms consistent with regressive ASDs. Evidence for mercury intoxication should be considered in the differential diagnosis as contributing to some regressive ASDs.
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Mercury and autism: accelerating evidence?
Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2005 Oct;26(5):439-46.
Mutter J, Naumann J, Schneider R, Walach H, Haley B.
Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany. joachim.mutter@uniklinik-freiburg.de
The causes of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders are unknown. Genetic and environmental risk factors seem to be involved. Because of an observed increase in autism in the last decades, which parallels cumulative mercury exposure, it was proposed that autism may be in part caused by mercury. We review the evidence for this proposal. Several epidemiological studies failed to find a correlation between mercury exposure through thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, and the risk of autism. Recently, it was found that autistic children had a higher mercury exposure during pregnancy due to maternal dental amalgam and thimerosal-containing immunoglobulin shots. It was hypothesized that children with autism have a decreased detoxification capacity due to genetic polymorphism. In vitro, mercury and thimerosal in levels found several days after vaccination inhibit methionine synthetase (MS) by 50%. Normal function of MS is crucial in biochemical steps necessary for brain development, attention and production of glutathione, an important antioxidative and detoxifying agent. Repetitive doses of thimerosal leads to neurobehavioral deteriorations in autoimmune susceptible mice, increased oxidative stress and decreased intracellular levels of glutathione in vitro. Subsequently, autistic children have significantly decreased level of reduced glutathione. Promising treatments of autism involve detoxification of mercury, and supplementation of deficient metabolites.
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A comparative evaluation of the effects of MMR immunization and mercury doses from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines on the population prevalence of autism.
Med Sci Monit. 2004 Mar;10(3):PI33-9. Epub 2004 Mar 1.
Comment in:
Med Sci Monit. 2005 Oct;11(10):LE13-4.
President, MedCon, Inc, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of MMR immunization and mercury from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines on the prevalence of autism. MATERIAL/METHODS: Evaluations of the Biological Surveillance Summaries of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Education datasets, and the CDC’s yearly live birth estimates were undertaken RESULTS: It was determined that there was a close correlation between mercury doses from thimerosal–containing childhood vaccines and the prevalence of autism from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. In contrast, there was a potential correlation between the number of primary pediatric measles-containing vaccines administered and the prevalence of autism during the 1980s. In addition, it was found that there were statistically significant odds ratios for the development of autism following increasing doses of mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines (birth cohorts: 1985 and 1990-1995) in comparison to a baseline measurement (birth cohort: 1984). The contribution of thimerosal from childhood vaccines (>50% effect) was greater than MMR vaccine on the prevalence of autism observed in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study agree with a number of previously published studies. These studies have shown that there is biological plausibility and epidemiological evidence showing a direct relationship between increasing doses of mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, and measles-containing vaccines and serious neurological disorders. It is recommended that thimerosal be removed from all vaccines, and additional research be undertaken
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Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning.
Med Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):462-71.
Bernard S, Enayati A, Redwood L, Roger H, Binstock T.
ARC Research, Cranford, New Jersey 07901, USA.
Autism is a syndrome characterized by impairments in social relatedness and communication, repetitive behaviors, abnormal movements, and sensory dysfunction. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that autism may affect 1 in 150 US children. Exposure to mercury can cause immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions similar to traits defining or associated with autism, and the similarities extend to neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters, and biochemistry. Thimerosal, a preservative added to many vaccines, has become a major source of mercury in children who, within their first two years, may have received a quantity of mercury that exceeds safety guidelines. A review of medical literature and US government data suggests that: (i) many cases of idiopathic autism are induced by early mercury exposure from thimerosal; (ii) this type of autism represents an unrecognized mercurial syndrome; and (iii) genetic and non-genetic factors establish a predisposition whereby thimerosal’s adverse effects occur only in some children. Copyright 2001 Harcourt