Vaccine issue: Study establishes link between heavy metals and autism.

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http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19025535.400 & feedId=online-news_

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New Scientist Magazine (newscientist.com)

May 30, 2006

Heavy Metals May Be Implicated in Autism

URINE samples from hundreds of French children have yielded evidence

for a

link between autism and exposure to heavy metals. If validated, the

findings

might mean some cases of autism could be treated with drugs that purge

the

body of heavy metals.

Samples from children with autism contained abnormally high levels of a

family of proteins called porphyrins, which are precursors in the

production

of haem, the oxygen-carrying component in haemoglobin. Heavy metals

block

haem production, causing porphyrins to accumulate in urine.

Concentrations

of one molecule, coproporphyrin, were 2.6 times as high in urine from

children with autism as in controls.

Autism is thought to have a number of unknown genetic and environmental

causes. Lathe of Pieta Research in Edinburgh, UK, says he has

found

one of these factors. " It's highly likely that heavy metals are

responsible

for childhood autistic disorder in a majority of cases, " he claims. The

study will appear in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.

Lathe says these porphyrin metabolites bind to receptors in the brain

and

have been linked with epilepsy and autism.

The researchers restored porphyrin concentrations to normal in 12

children

by treating them with " chelation " drugs that mop up heavy metals and

are

then excreted. It is not yet known whether the children's symptoms have

eased, but Lathe cites anecdotal reports suggesting the drugs might do

some

good.

The study is available online at:

http://filariane.org/anglais/DOC/MSFINAL.pdf

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