What do California condors and autistic children have in common? Quite possibly it’s a need for chemical detoxification. As discussed frequently by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vigorous environmental advocate, there’s little doubt that mercury in the form of thimerosal (ethyl mercury) is “poisoning the brains of children throughout the world.” Kennedy rails against the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for being “criminally negligent” on this issue. Mercury is a neurotoxin, and allowing it to seep into the forming synapses of infant and toddler brains is, or should be, an act of criminal proportions.
This is a fact somewhat separate from the debate about what really “causes autism.” Given the known biotoxic effects of heavy metals like lead and mercury, how can anyone argue, as vaccine manufactures continue to do, that that mercury, at any level, is harmless to developing tissues of children. Yet that autism debate rages on, the most disingenuous of the combatants parking themselves in the absurd, overly simplistic extremes of genetics versus environment. The truth likely lies somewhere in between. Certain children, through their genetic makeups, are likely more sensitive to neurotoxins such as mercury.
In an environment where drugs like Prozac seep into drinking water, and the bodies of all of us bubble with a diversity of toxins, like PCBs and dioxins, who is to say what combination of toxins, thimerosal included, may provoke childhood brain disorders like hyperactivity or autism? From a toxicological point of view, mercury, possibly in combination with other toxins, might act in a direct fashion on the brains of these kids. Or it’s also possible, given what is known about mercury, that it could, drive the immune system into a haywire interaction with its own nervous system and contributing to the neurological damage.
On June 25, the same day that Kennedy made his assertions about the mercury-autism connection on radio, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D, NY) held subcommittee hearings into the health effects of environmental toxicity suffered by 9-11 responders and residents. What many fail to appreciate is that the plethora of illnesses currently afflicting tens of thousands of 9-11 responders offers us a mirror of the health effects related to the accumulating toxicity to which we are all exposed. They come at us, and into us, from our food, air, water and from products and materials we use at home and at work over our lifetimes. Just as the genetic makeups of some children can predispose them to brain/behavioral disorders, when exposed to thimerosal, a number of the 9-11 responders, against a background of a career of the exposures they got while fighting fires, developed lung pathologies-- the notorious WTC cough and chronic lung diseases --and also a host of immunological and neurological symptoms. Their chronic fatigue, loss of memory, inability to concentrate and disruption of sleep may, in a very real sense, parallel the damaged neurology in mercury-exposed children.
Proponents of the thimerosal causation of autism, like Kennedy, argue that a detoxification method called chelation therapy is of great benefit to these children. Detoxification, they claim, is a necessary strategy in a population already polluted by its environment. Kennedy chides the CDC, and the traditional U.S. medical establishment, for refusing to even study chelation. And in like fashion, when nearly 1,000 of the between 40,000 and 70,000 estimated 9-11 responders who say they have suffered health problems due to their World Trade Center toxic exposures have demonstrated benefit from a sauna detoxification procedure, New York City and its traditional medical team at Mt. Sinai Hospital and other WTC treatment centers vigorously ignore the fact that this rehabilitation therapy is actually working. While the ill responders continue to deteriorate and develop rare cancers, like multiple myeloma, almost all of those who received detoxification therapy have returned to relatively normal lives, their mental fogginess allayed, their sleep quality restored, their energy for living reinvigorated.
In general, this correlation bears testament to the growing necessity for toxin cleansing on a planet groaning under the weight of body-stored toxins. As for the condor connection mentioned at the beginning of this article, interestingly, there was no hesitation when isotopic fingerprinting showed that the endangered California condor was suffering from lead poisoning after ingestion of lead-bullet-poisoned carcasses left behind by hunters. Using chelation to remove the lead from the condors’ blood and tissues, wildlife biologists rescued dozens of birds, greatly assisting a captive breeding program that is returning the species to viability.
Future generations will tell us whether we too readily neglected and rejected chelation and other forms of detoxification in favor of traditional medicine, which tends to function within the trade space of putting more chemicals (drugs) into bodies already overflowing with foreign substances. They will tell us whether we were too resistant to a needed a paradigm shift, which would recognize the need to relieve a body of its toxic burden as a more viable path to regaining health rather than trying to relieve symptoms with drug therapy alone.
VinyL is a molecular biologist who's passion is the philsophical and pragmatic expansion of the US healthcare system away from its insane addiction to physician-lock, reductionistic, simpleminded drug therapy toward a more-global view based on (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
This subject is very close to my heart considering my son's regression into autism was becoming more and more evident when 9-11 happened. I was loosing my son and horrified at the 9-11 tragedy simultaneously. It was overwhelming and emotional beyond words. I kept thinking, how would these worker's health be affected?? And why did my son's vaccinations make him so sick? I'm loosing him. Devistated beyond words I started to put some of the peices together. No one had any answers for me until I found DAN! drs. and a world of parents whose children experienced the same things as my son and had the same exact story. He's making progress with treatments, hopefully his body will be ready for chelation soon because his body is very toxic and overwhelmed with viruses and bacteria. I feel for these Men and Women who put their lives on hold to put a city back together after the tradegy and now have their major health decline ignored. I know, I remember the same ignorance with my son's regression from the mainstream political and medical arenas. We need to do better for the children and the heros of this generation. Treatments involving toxicity are well overlooked and desperately need funds to investigate the best and safest protocals. Side stepping the issue is just causing more damage and the injustice of it all is staggering and immoral.
I thank you for this insightful peice. Hopefully more will follow your lead!
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Allison Chapman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Saturday, Jun 30, 2007 at 11:08:11 AM
Autism and increasing paternal age a major connection exists
There is much information on the various causes of the disorders now all called autism. It is not made public because it is not profitable. If anyone is interested in the known causes you have to read the research since 1958. One of the major causes is the age of the father at the conception of the chiild or the age of the father at the conception of the mother of the child. Older paternal ages ( past 32) are associated with de novo autism, a family history of autoimmune disorders, a family history of OCD and other mental disorders, of course a family history of schizophrenia or autistic disorders and more factors are known to be associated with high risk for having an autistic child. The male biological clock is kept secret just like so many other truths are kept secret.
You raise important issues, enriching the dialog in the appropriate direction --- complex multivariate sytems like the neuro-endocrine-immune axis will be developmentally "tipped" by a confluence of numerous factors, all of which may contribute predipositionally. Unfortunately we have "tipped the scales on the ante" on one of those factors (not just for the in utero situation, but for all of us) by becoming inured to the evidence that suggests accumulation of environmental toxins, particularly in fatty (adipose) tissues. Thank you.
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VinyL PhD (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Saturday, Jun 30, 2007 at 10:17:19 PM
Thimerosal was gone from scheduled childhood vaccines by the winter of 2002, yet California's numbers for 3-5 years keep climbing. Why is that? Shouldn't we be seeing a predictable dose response if thimerosal causes autism?
RFK doesn't know what he's talking about. There isn't a single study that conclusively demonstrates a link between mercury and autism. Geier admitted that to a judge in 2004. What's changed since then? Why do Geier and 254 DAN! doctors tell their patients differently. That's the real cover up.
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Heraldblog (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 25 comments) on Saturday, Jul 7, 2007 at 9:23:33 AM
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