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Toxic metal clue to autism
« on: 2003-06-19 10:14:12 » |
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Toxic metal clue to autism
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993842
A study of mercury levels in the baby hair of children who were later diagnosed with autism has produced startling results. The babies had far lower levels of mercury in their hair than other infants, leading to speculation that autistic children either do not absorb mercury or, more likely, cannot excrete it.
The results will be seized upon by parents who blame vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal for their children's autism, some of whom are suing health authorities in the US and Canada. (The MMR vaccine that some accuse of triggering autism, despite a lack of credible evidence, does not contain mercury.)
But while the study's findings support the theory that some children have a genetic fault that makes them far more susceptible to mercury poisoning, the results certainly do not prove this, or that thimerosal is involved.
The difference in mercury levels in hair may be a sign of a more general problem in dealing with metals or it could simply be an anomaly that reveals little about what is happening elsewhere in the body.
But if the results are confirmed, the conclusions of studies looking at the safety of low levels of mercury (New Scientist print edition, 14 June) could also be called into question. Many of these studies relied on mercury levels in hair as a measure of exposure.
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Most of this mercury came from the mothers. The main sources of exposure, according to the team, were mercury amalgam fillings, Rho D immunoglobulin injections containing thimerosal given to Rhesus negative mothers, and heavy consumption of fish (defined as more than five fish meals a month).
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