You prompted me to remember a short paper I wrote 13 years ago. Not my most eloquent material, but the facts are here:
Once a scarce unheard of disorder, autism is now so prevalent many are calling it an "epidemic." Prior to 1970, the prevalence of autism was 1 in 2000. In 1970 it was 1 in 1000 and in 1996 the NIH estimated it to be 1 in 500. In 2000, reports from the education sector revealed an incidence of autism at 1 in 150. What has created a more than 1300% increase of autism prevalence in our children over the course of a single generation?
Doctors and researchers have been hypothesizing why the sharp increase in autistic related disorders has been happening. So far, the leading culprit in the minds of many researchers is mercury.
The earthly chemical element of mercury (aka quicksilver) is a rare metal found in the earth's crust, which is found in cinnabar and other minerals. During the 19th century and through the middle of last century, a process called "carroting" was used to make felt hats by rinsing animal skins in a compound made of mercuric nitrate, separating the fur from the pelt to make hats. The vapor this process manifested was incredibly toxic. Breathing these fumes lead hat makers to insomnia, dementia, tremors, emotional lability and hallucinations. Lewis Carroll's "Mad Hatter" in his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was based on mercury poisoned hat makers. The United States Public Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December of 1941.
Commonly used as medicine centuries ago, mercury is less common in medicine now that the toxicity of the chemical element is better understood. Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers and other scientific tools, however concerns about the toxicity have lead to alcohol-filled, and digital thermometers becoming standard. Mercury is considered harmless in it's insoluble form, but considered poisonous in it's soluble form.
The mainstream mercury controversy began in 1997, when Frank Pallone, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey attached an amendment to an FDA reauthorization bill, requiring the FDA to "compile a list of drugs and foods that contain intentionally introduced mercury compounds and to provide a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the mercury compounds in the list." This bill evolved into the landmark FDA Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA) and was signed into law on November 21, 1997.
Two population-based studies are often cited as the basis for calculations on the neurotoxicity of mercury in utero. However, these studies only studied methyl mercury. In the first, a study from the Seychelles, infants were exposed to mercury in utero when their mothers ate a high daily consumption of methyl mercury-containing fish. The mothers had mean mercury levels in their hair of 6.8 ppm. No developmental defects were detected. In the second study from the Faroe Islands, infants were born to mothers with mean hair levels of 4.3 ppm. In contrast to the Seychelles mothers, these mothers were exposed to mercury through intermittent "bolus" consumption of pilot whale meat. Lower scores on memory, attention, and language tests were associated with methyl mercury exposure in the children. These tests proved inconclusive as no defects were reported in Japan. However, in the 1960s in Minamata Bay, Japan, women ate fish contaminated with methyl mercury from pollutants and children exposed to the high levels of mercury in utero were born with developmental and neurological disorders.
The mercury compound, thimerosal was introduced as a vaccine preservative in the 1930s. At the time it was viewed as a safe and reliable, defender against fungal contamination. Thimerosal was added to vaccines during production to offset production-related contamination. Thimerosal's greatest asset was thought to be in the field where it acted as a fail-safe against imperfect aseptic handling, especially valuable for multi-dose vaccines, when needles become more vulnerable to bacteria infestation.
Thimerosal contains 49.6% mercury by weight and is water-soluble. In the human body, thimerosal is metabolized to ethyl mercury (not methyl mercury) and thiosalicylate. Toxicological information on the chief metabolite of thimerosal, ethyl mercury, is extremely limited. In accordance with congressman Pallone's bill, the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) began adding up the total amount of mercury given to children through vaccines in the U.S. immunization schedule. Thimerosal was present in over 30 licensed vaccines in the U.S in concentrations of .003% to .01% According to the study, an infant of six months, receiving all vaccines on schedule receives: 75 micrograms of mercury from three doses of DTP. 75 micrograms from three doses of Hib and 37.5 micrograms from three hepatitis B vaccines, grand totaling 187.5 micrograms of mercury. The EPA, FDA and agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ruled this amount of mercury to be within the safe limits, however this analysis is based on methyl mercury, not ethyl mercury. The research and literature on ethyl mercury toxicity was so limited that these researchers based the toxic limit criteria on methyl mercury.
Thimerosal surfaced as a safety issue in Europe in June of 1999, when the Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA), completed an 18-month inquiry into the risks and benefits of using thimerosal in vaccines. The EMEA concluded: "Although there is no evidence of harm caused by the level of exposure from vaccines, it would be prudent to promote the general use of vaccines without thimerosal."
Once mercury and its compounds are outlawed from vaccinations, we will be able to determine the correlation between autism and mercury based vaccinations, however do not be surprised to see the U.S. government fight this from happening as the implications that vaccinations are damaging the central nervous systems of infants and have been for decades is something no government wants to admit has been happening.
Abnormal Child Psychology, a widely used university textbook, brushes on the vast increase in autism. "Many causes for this dramatic increase have been proposed--vaccines, mercury, diet, antibiotics, allergies, environmental pollutants, and electromagnetic radiation-but none have been scientifically substantiated to date." It continues, "It seems likely that most, if not all, of the rise in prevalence [of autism] is caused by a broadening of the criteria used to diagnose autism over the years and to the greater recognition of milder forms of autism. However, whether there is also a real increase in prevalence due to an unidentified cause remains an open question." So, the textbook that opens with a psychological breakdown of Lee Harvey Oswald as the apparent assassin of John F Kennedy, while most Americans believe he was a patsy does a sufficient job to steer away readers from investigating or thinking critically about the reality behind the horrible increase in autistic related disorders.
The most important time in a human's development is while inside the mother and the first two years of life, thereafter. While the brains of our children are developing at the most sensitive time of their lives, we must avoid any exposure to toxic elements to prevent neurological defects and brain damage. The last thing infants and unborn fetus' need is to be subjected to a proven toxin that damages the central nervous system. The bottom line is why do we knowingly continue to inject mercury into our unborn children and infants?
