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Teresa
Binstock
Researcher in Developmental & Behavioral
Neuroanatomy
October 25, 2009
Recently, a
respected group of researchers evaluated blood levels of mercury
in normally developing children and in children with an
autism-spectrum disorder. Hertz-Picciotto et al reported that
levels were similar in the two groups (1). However, an increasing
body of evidence demonstrates that tissues including the brain
sequester more mercury (Hg) than is present in blood (2) and that
autistic children process mercury differently (cites below).
Furthermore, a significant proportion of deliberately injected
thimerosal (present in some vaccines) enters the brain (3), and
causes adverse effects in some children (cites below).
In
2008, Sajdel-Sulkoska et al published a study which had evaluated
Hg levels in cerebellar tissue from autistics and from controls
(4). Table 2 on p77 reports cerebellar Hg levels:
Diagnosis Hg (pmol g(-1) tissue)
Control 14.93±3.26
Autism 25.11±8.25
These data are from autopsied
individuals. The N in controls and N in autistics are not large.
Two ramifications ensue:
i) The difference between Hg levels
in controls (14.93±3.26) and autistics (25.11±8.25)
is substantial.
ii) However, since cerebellar tissue from
deceased humans is not abundant, the project's N of autistics and
N of controls were small, thus the substantial Hg-levels
differences did not attain statistical significance.
Is
there evidence indicating why children who develop autism or one
of the other autism-spectrum disorders (ASDs) store more Hg in
brain and other body tissues? Or, why such children suffer more
adverse effects from otherwise similar exposures?
Studies
by S. Jill James & colleagues have found genetic and clinical
markers of abnormal processing of Hg (eg, 5-8), findings which are
consistent (a) with the cerebellar homogenate data of
Sajdel-Sulkowsja et al (1), and (b) with other findings regarding
thimerosal sensitization (9) and thimerosal's inhibition of
glutathione-transferases (10).
'Tis no surprise that Stony
Brook's Goodman & Gallagher found that thimerosal-containing
vaccinations given to neonatal infants were associated with a
triple-risk of becoming diagnosed with autism (11) and a 9-times
greater likelihood of eventually needing special education
services (12).
Further clues regarding blood mercury
versus Hg in other tissues can be found in Adams et al (13),
wherein the research methodology included a chelation challenge in
a manner similar to medical evaluations by some clinicians.
First bottom line: Many autistic children process and
retain mercury differently from the ways Hg is processed by
neurotypical children. This principle is consistent with the
finding of increased Hg in cerebellar tissue of autistic children
(vs controls).
Second bottom line: Evidence mounts that
officials of the American Medical Association (AMA), CDC, and FDA
are ignoring data which reveals the ineffectiveness of some
vaccines (eg, 14) or the adverse effects of some vaccinations (eg,
11-12).
References:
1. Blood
Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children with and without
Autism
Irva Hertz-Picciotto et
al.
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/0900736/0900736.pdf
2.
Mercury exposure from "silver"
tooth fillings: emerging evidence questions a traditional dental
paradigm
Lorscheider FL et al. FASEB J. 1995
Apr;9(7):504-8.
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/reprint/9/7/504
3.
Comparison of blood and brain mercury
levels in infant monkeys exposed to methylmercury or vaccines
containing thimerosal
Burbacher TM et al.
Environ Health Perspect. 2005
Aug;113(8):1015-21.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280342/pdf/ehp0113-001015.pdf
4.
Oxidative Stress in Autism: Elevated
Cerebellar 3-nitrotyrosine Levels
Elizabeth M.
Sajdel-Sulkowska, et al.
American Journal of Biochemistry and
Biotechnology 4 (2): 73-84,
2008
http://www.scipub.org/fulltext/ajbb/ajbb4273-84.pdf
5.
Cellular and mitochondrial glutathione
redox imbalance in lymphoblastoid cells derived from children with
autism
James SJ et al. FASEB J. 2009
Aug;23(8):2374-83.
6. Abnormal
transmethylation/transsulfuration metabolism and DNA
hypomethylation among parents of children with autism
James
SJ et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2008 Nov;38(10):1966-75.
7.
Metabolic endophenotype and related
genotypes are associated with oxidative stress in children with
autism
James SJ et al. Am J Med Genet B
Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2006 Dec 5;141B(8):947-56.
8.
Metabolic biomarkers of increased
oxidative stress and impaired methylation capacity in children
with autism
James SJ et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004
Dec;80(6):1611-7
9. Homozygous
gene deletions of the glutathione S-transferases M1 and T1 are
associated with thimerosal sensitization
Westphal
et al. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2000 Aug;73(6):384-8
10.
Inhibition of the human erythrocytic
glutathione-S-transferase T1 (GST T1) by thimerosal
Muller
M et al. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2001 Jul;203(5-6):479-81
11.
Hepatitis B vaccination of male
neonates and autism
CM Gallagher, MS
Goodman
Annals of Epidemiology
Vol. 19, No. 9 ABSTRACTS
(ACE)
September 2009: p. 659
Stony Brook University Medical
Center, NY
12. Hepatitis B
triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children
aged 1-9 years
Gallagher C, Goodman M.
Toxicol Environ Chem 2008
90(5):997-1008.
http://fourteenstudies.org/pdf/hep_b.pdf
13.
Severity of Autism Is Associated With
Toxic Metal Body Burden and Red Blood Cell Glutathione
Levels
Adams J et al Journal of
Toxicology, 2009
Provisional
PDF:
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jt/aip.532640.pdf
14.
Does the Vaccine Matter?
Whether
this season’s swine flu turns out to be deadly or mild, most
experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before we’re
hit by a truly devastating flu pandemic—one that might kill
more people worldwide than have died of the plague and aids
combined. In the U.S., the main lines of defense are
pharmaceutical—vaccines and antiviral drugs to limit the
spread of flu and prevent people from dying from it. Yet now some
flu experts are challenging the medical orthodoxy and arguing that
for those most in need of protection, flu shots and antiviral
drugs may provide little to none. So where does that leave us if a
bad pandemic strikes?
by Shannon Brownlee
and Jeanne
Lenzer
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1
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Teresa Binstock by email
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