Study links autistic kids to higher mercury risk

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=484

Tina Hesman, "Study links autistic kids to higher mercury risk",
Indianapolis Star, December 19, 2004,
Link: http://www.indystar.com/articles/9/203211-7679-052.html

Children with autism may process mercury differently than most
children, leaving them susceptible to damage from preservatives in
vaccines and other sources of the heavy metal, according to a
controversial report.

The report, by the independent Environmental Working Group, highlights
the research of S. Jill James, a professor of biochemistry and
pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

James conducted blood tests on 20 children with autism and compared
them with blood samples taken from 33 children who do not have autism.
She found lower levels of the mercury-detoxifying chemical glutathione
in the blood of autistic children.

The enzyme also helps rid the body of other heavy metals that may
damage cells and organs.

"Given an equal load of environmental toxicants, these kids wouldn't be
able to detoxify it or excrete it as well as the average kid," James
said of the study, released Monday.

A pediatrician at the University of Virginia, Dr. Elizabeth A. Mumper,
said children she treated with a combination of folinic acid, betaine
and methyl vitamin B-12 got better. The results of Mumper's study are
not yet published.

The studies again raise concerns that some genetically susceptible
children are more prone to neurological damage when exposed to mercury
and other toxins. Vaccines, fish and dental amalgam fillings have been
fingered as sources of mercury.

Parents and some scientists say the use of a mercury-based preservative
called thimerosal in vaccines corresponded with an explosion in the
number of autism cases. Thimerosal was taken out of vaccines in 2002,
but the rate of autism remains at the same level.