Is There Really No Link Between Mercury and Autism?
In a recent Canadian study, a research team led by Dr. Eric Frombonne, Director of Pediatric Psychiatry at The Montreal Children’s Hospital, found no difference in mercury in the blood and hair samples obtained from autistic children and their mothers relative to samples from non-autistic children and their mothers.
Frombonne and his team concluded:
- Autism is not a form of mercury poisoning.
- “Chelation therapies, whereby heavy metals are removed from the body using specific compounds , are not useful in the treatment of autism. Chelation has never been proved efficacious as a biomedical intervention to treat autism.”
We can all go home now. Nothing at all to see here. Move along.
What They Didn’t Tell You
As it turns out, though, it’s a little more complicated than that.
Unfortunately, blood tests are unhelpful in detecting mercury poisoning, except in acute exposures. Mercury is cleared relatively quickly from the blood and doesn’t reflect the amount of mercury bound to tissues in organs (like the brain).
Hair tests can be more useful, but are often misinterpreted. The fact that Frombonne’s team found no significant difference between levels of mercury in hair in autistic and non-autistic children says little.
The ages of the children in Frombonne’s study are not disclosed in the summary. In a similar study published in 2003 using first baby haircuts:
Reduced levels of mercury in first baby haircuts of autistic children.
researchers found significantly reduced mercury in the hair of autistic children relative to non-autistic children, suggesting that autistic children had a decreased ability to excrete toxic metals in the hair.
Why is age important? Because mercury binds tightly to tissues, especially those of the brain and glands like the thyroid and adrenals. If the children in Frombonne team’s study were older and hadn’t recently been exposed to heavy metals (via vaccines in infancy or from the mother during pregnancy), there would likely be little unbound mercury floating around to be incorporated into hair.
Just looking at the hair for toxic metals would have revealed little about the actual total levels in the body, especially in the brain. (There is no test available for determining heavy metal levels in the brain.)
A much better approach would have been a hair test that looked at both essential and toxic metal levels. A cardinal sign of heavy metal toxicity is not necessarily a high level of a toxic metal in the hair, but rather disordered levels of the essential minerals (e.g., zinc, copper, magnesium, calcium, etc.), as the toxic metals displace the essential minerals.
Details, Details
There are other reasons to believe there is still very much a high likelihood that mercury exposure is implicated in autism, including:
- An excellent peer-reviewed paper comparing the symptoms of autism with those of mercury poisoning — Autism: A Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning.
- The engrossing coverage in David Kirby’s book, Evidence of Harm, of the efforts by the CDC, the FDA, and others to not rigorously investigate the potential role of the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal in autism.
- The significant number of potential mercury exposure sources and synergistic toxins in the environment for today’s children.
- The body of peer-reviewed research that suggests mercury and other toxins have had a role to play in autism:
- The parents of autistic children who say that chelation is one of the most effective treatments (survey, testimonials).
Mercury exposure may not be the only factor responsible for the rise in autism rates. For example, the greatly expanded vaccination schedule (36 shots for kids today for 11 shots for kids 20 years ago) may also play a significant role. Nevertheless, to draw any conclusions based on the Frombonne team’s study would be extremely unwise.
What You Can Do
In addition to checking out the links above, I encourage you to visit the Generation Rescue website, as well as the list of “Our Friends” organizations at the bottom of their home page, to learn more about the role of environmental toxins in the autism epidemic.
If you or someone you know has autism, ADD/ADHD, or heavy metal toxicity, seek out a knowledgeable biomedical practitioner. I help people with such conditions in my practice:
As someone who was poisoned by mercury and completely recovered using biomedical therapies, I am intimately familiar with the issues and the process. I can help you to put together an organized plan and avoid the pitfalls.
Related Posts
Autism - Questions and More Questions
Why We All Should Care About Autism - A Must-Read Discover Magazine Article
Vaccination Schedule Expands 250% Over Past 25 Years
3/4 of Public Unaware that Flu Shots Contain Mercury
ADHD Tied to Higher Mercury Levels
(Image: AFP)
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May 6th, 2007 at 7:56 am
[…] Now, if you have read all that, you should also read this and read about what the study doesn’t tell you. Like the fact that blood tests are not helpful in detecting mercury poisoning, except acute exposure. And that hair tests are often misinterpreted and that the lack of finding a significant difference says very little. […]
April 3rd, 2010 at 7:09 am
A good quality write-up having fantastic data. Liked it.
August 29th, 2010 at 10:08 am
there has been no permanent cure for autism yet but i think stem cells could also help”`: