Possible Mercury, Autism Connection Found in Study (L.A. Times)

[Guest guest]

[About time! Even the corporate media is 'somewhat'

admitting a 'Mercury, Autism Connection' Keep in mind

that mercury is in vaccines as well. Rick. ]

 

 

 

 

Possible Mercury, Autism Connection Found in Study

 

Thu Mar 17, 7:55 AM ET

 

Add to My Top Stories - Los Angeles Times

 

By Thomas H. Maugh II Times Staff Writer

 

Texas researchers have found a possible link between

autism and mercury in the air and water.

 

Studying individual school districts in Texas, the

epidemiologists found that those districts with the

highest levels of mercury in the environment also had

the highest rates of special education students and

autism diagnoses.

 

The study does not prove that mercury causes autism,

cautioned the lead author, Raymond F. Palmer of the

University of Texas Health Science Center in San

Antonio, but it provides a " provocative " clue that

should be further investigated.

 

" Mercury is a known neurotoxin, " said Dr. Isaac Pessah

of UC Davis' MIND Institute, who was not involved in

the study. " It's rather intriguing that the

correlation is so positive, " meaning that there was a

strong, direct relationship between mercury and autism

levels. " It makes one worry. "

 

California has the highest environmental burden of

mercury of any state in the country, and it also has

what appears to be the highest rate of autism as well

— although some critics attribute this perceived high

rate to enhanced surveillance associated with the

state's special education program.

 

Autism is a severe developmental disorder in which

children seem isolated from the world around them.

There is a broad spectrum of symptoms, but the

disorder is marked by poor language skills and an

inability to handle social relations.

 

The incidence of autism has grown dramatically over

the last two decades, from about one in every 2,000

children to as high as one in every 166. Researchers

have been hard-pressed to explain the increase, but

many believe mercury to be the culprit.

 

The purported link between autism and mercury has been

a subject of intense debate. In the past it has

centered primarily on the mercury-containing

preservative thimerosal, which was once widely used in

vaccines.

 

Many parents have argued that thimerosal causes autism

because their children seemed to develop the

neurological disorder shortly after they received

childhood vaccinations.

 

That link has been largely discredited, and

researchers are beginning to look at the potential

effects of the metal from other sources.

 

Mercury is routinely released from power plants

burning fossil fuels, and it spreads widely in air and

water. Much of the fish consumed in some regions is

contaminated with mercury. In California, gold mining

was a big mercury source, and there are many mercury

hot spots near mines and downstream, such as in Clear

Lake.

 

In the new study, Palmer and his colleagues used

Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites)

data about the release of mercury in 2001 in Texas'

254 counties and correlated that with the number of

special education cases and autism diagnoses in the

1,200 school districts. Texas is fourth in the amount

of mercury released into the environment annually,

trailing California, Oregon and West Virginia.

 

The study, which will appear in the journal Health &

Place, found that for every 1,000 pounds of mercury

released into the environment, there was a 43%

increase in special education services and a 61%

increase in the autism rate.

 

The exception to the rule was Brewster County, which

had a high autism rate but did not report significant

mercury levels to the EPA. When Palmer investigated,

however, he found that the county had been home to one

of the largest mercury mines in the nation.

 

" Perhaps [the mercury] just stays in the environment

forever. We don't know, " Palmer said.

 

More work will be required to determine whether

mercury is the agent that causes the disorder. Palmer

is expanding his studies to look for historical

correlations — attempting to determine, for example,

if increases in the rate of autism over time can be

associated with increases in mercury release.

 

Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciatto and her colleagues at the

MIND Institute, meanwhile, have begun a potentially

more definitive study in which they are measuring the

levels of mercury and other toxic metals, such as

cadmium and lead, in children with autism to see if

they are higher than in healthy children. Results will

be available in a couple of years.