Autism, mercury possibly linked

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Thanks Ilena,

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002210097 & zs\

ection_id=2002120005 & slug=autism17 & date=20050317

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> Thursday, March 17, 2005, 12:00 A.M. Pacific

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> Autism, mercury possibly linked

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> By H. Maugh II

> Los Angeles Times

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> 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

> have the highest rates of special-education students

> and autism diagnoses.

>

> The study does not prove that mercury causes autism,

> cautioned the lead author, Palmer of the

> University of Texas Health Science Center in San

> , but it provides " provocative " clues that

> should be investigated.

>

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

> Pessah of the University of California, '

> M.I.N.D. Institute, who was not involved in the

> study. " It's rather intriguing that the correlation

> is so positive. It makes one worry. "

>

> California has the highest environmental burden of

> mercury of any state and it has what appears to be

> the highest rate of autism, 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 in the past 20

> years, 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

> 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 largely has been 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 the new study, Palmer and his colleagues used EPA

> data about the environmental release of mercury in

> 2001 in Texas' 254 counties and correlated that with

> the number of special-education cases and autism

> diagnoses in the nearly 1,200 school districts.

> Texas is fourth in the annual amount of mercury

> released into the environment, trailing California,

> Oregon and West Virginia.

>

> The study, which will appear in the peer-reviewed

> journal Health & Place, found that every 1,000

> pounds of mercury released into the environment

> produced a 43 percent increase in special-education

> services and a 61 percent increase in the autism

> rate.

>

> The one 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.

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> Much more work will be required to determine whether

> mercury is actually the causative agent in the

> disorder.

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> http://www.breastimplantawareness.org/

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