Mercury's Blowback - Autism

http://www.healthsentinel.com/org_ne...st_item&id=129

Roman Bystrianyk, "Mercury's Blowback - Autism", Health Sentinel,
March 10, 2008,

Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is the only common metal which is
liquid at ordinary temperatures. Metallic mercury is used in a variety
of household products, such as barometers, thermometers and
fluorescent light bulbs. Alkali and metal processing, coal-burning
power plants, medical and other waste, and mining of gold and mercury
contribute greatly to mercury concentrations in some areas. However,
the dominant source of mercury over most of the landscape is when
mercury enters the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, mercury is
widely disseminated and can circulate for years, accounting for its
wide-spread distribution.

Mercury is a neurotoxin. The "mad hatters" of the 19th century
suffered from mercury poisoning which caused personality changes,
nervousness, trembling, and even dementia. The hatters were exposed to
mercury in the felting process when mercury was rubbed onto cloth to
preserve it.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "for fetuses,
infants, and children, the primary health effect of methylmercury is
impaired neurological development. Methylmercury exposure in the womb,
which can result from a mother's consumption of fish and shellfish
that contain methylmercury, can adversely affect a baby's growing
brain and nervous system. Impacts on cognitive thinking, memory,
attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills have
been seen in children exposed to methylmercury in the womb."

According to a recent article in USA Today, the EPA states that as
many as 600,000 babies may be born in the USA each year with permanent
brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish.

In 2005, about 500 coal-burning power plants emitted 48.3 tons of
mercury, an increase of 1% since 2000, according to a USA Today
analysis of the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory. These plants supply
half of the nation's electricity and are the nation's largest source
of mercury air emissions.

Gold jewelry is also extremely profitable amounting to over $44
billion dollars in 2006 making gold jewelry one of the world's largest
categories of consumer goods. An estimated 10 to 15 million small-
scale miners rely on mercury to separate grains of gold from small
bits of sand and rock using pans or other small scale equipment. The
technique results in a gold-mercury amalgam which is later heated to
release the mercury and extract the gold.

The largely unregulated flow of mercury is polluting waterways, land,
and the miners themselves throughout Africa, South America, and Asia.
Because the miners heat the gold-mercury amalgam in open pans
elemental mercury is released into the atmosphere. United Nations
Environment Program, or UNEP, estimates that "small-scale gold mining
releases between 650 and 1,000 metric tons of mercury per year," and
that this pollution accounts for "about a third of all mercury
releases to the environment from human activities."

Once in the atmosphere mercury eventually falls in rain or snow to the
ground or water. Rain and melting snow wash mercury into lakes and
streams and eventually into the oceans. Bacteria in the soil sediment
and water as well as plants convert mercury into methyl mercury. This
form of mercury can readily be absorbed into and remain in fish
tissue. Fish accumulate methyl mercury into their bodies by eating
plants or by direct contact with bacteria.

As ever-bigger fish eat small ones, methyl mercury accumulates in
their bodies. The larger the fish the greater the concentration of
mercury. Fish such as tuna, swordfish, and shark have some of the
highest concentrations. Methyl mercury levels can be 1 million times
higher than in the surrounding water.

A letter published in Medical Journal of Australia report on three
infants whose parents had sought medical advice for either
developmental delay or neurological symptoms in their children. All
three children had eaten fish congee, a rice and fish porridge, as a
weaning food and ate fish regularly as toddlers.

In the first reported case a 2-year-old boy had demonstrated
increasingly "aggressive behavior for the past 6 months." A general
practitioner had diagnosed the boy's father with mercury poisoning 2
months earlier following complaints of allergies, rashes, abdominal
pain, and diarrhea. The boy's blood mercury level was measured at 158
nmol/L [nanomoles per liter]. The normal range for adults is
considered less than 50 nmol/L.

In the second reported case a boy aged 2 years and 10 months presented
with "delayed speech and some autistic features." Since weaning, the
boy had eaten fish up to eight times a week. The child's blood mercury
level was 350 nmol/L. Two weeks after removing fish from the diet the
child's blood mercury level had fallen to 99 nmol/L. "However, his
behavior did not improve, and he was subsequently diagnosed with
classical autism."

In the final reported case a 15-month-old boy was examined with
delayed development since birth. Fish had been introduced to his diet
at 8 months of age and had consumed fish four to five times a week.
The boys' mother had consumed fish three to four times a week after
the fifth month of her pregnancy. The boy's blood mercury level was
143 nmol/L, but feel to 19 nmol/L over a period of a year after
ceasing fish intake. "His longer-term development status is unknown."

The authors conclude with a recommendation that "multilingual
information about fish and mercury be made available to pregnant women
and mothers, especially targeting groups who are likely to be frequent
consumers of fish and who use fish in weaning and infant foods.
Regulatory and health promotion activities could also be informed by
surveillance of blood or hair mercury levels in infants from ethnic
groups at high risk of mercury intoxication, and of the frequency of
fish consumption in this age group."

SOURCE: Medical Journal of Australia, 2008

On Mar 9, 8:17*pm, Roman Bystrianyk wrote:
http://www.healthsentinel.com/org_ne...ws_print_list_...

Roman Bystrianyk, "Mercury's Blowback - Autism", Health Sentinel,
March 10, 2008,

Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is the only common metal which is
liquid at ordinary temperatures. Metallic mercury is used in a variety
of household products, such as barometers, thermometers and
fluorescent light bulbs. Alkali and metal processing, coal-burning
power plants, medical and other waste, and mining of gold and mercury
contribute greatly to mercury concentrations in some areas. However,
the dominant source of mercury over most of the landscape is when
mercury enters the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, mercury is
widely disseminated and can circulate for years, accounting for its
wide-spread distribution.

Mercury is a neurotoxin. The "mad hatters" of the 19th century
suffered from mercury poisoning which caused personality changes,
nervousness, trembling, and even dementia. The hatters were exposed to
mercury in the felting process when mercury was rubbed onto cloth to
preserve it.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "for fetuses,
infants, and children, the primary health effect of methylmercury is
impaired neurological development. Methylmercury exposure in the womb,
which can result from a mother's consumption of fish and shellfish
that contain methylmercury, can adversely affect a baby's growing
brain and nervous system. Impacts on cognitive thinking, memory,
attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills have
been seen in children exposed to methylmercury in the womb."

According to a recent article in USA Today, the EPA states that as
many as 600,000 babies may be born in the USA each year with permanent
brain damage because pregnant mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish.

In 2005, about 500 coal-burning power plants emitted 48.3 tons of
mercury, an increase of 1% since 2000, according to a USA Today
analysis of the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory. These plants supply
half of the nation's electricity and are the nation's largest source
of mercury air emissions.

Gold jewelry is also extremely profitable amounting to over $44
billion dollars in 2006 making gold jewelry one of the world's largest
categories of consumer goods. An estimated 10 to 15 million small-
scale miners rely on mercury to separate grains of gold from small
bits of sand and rock using pans or other small scale equipment. The
technique results in a gold-mercury amalgam which is later heated to
release the mercury and extract the gold.

The largely unregulated flow of mercury is polluting waterways, land,
and the miners themselves throughout Africa, South America, and Asia.
Because the miners heat the gold-mercury amalgam in open pans
elemental mercury is released into the atmosphere. United Nations
Environment Program, or UNEP, estimates that "small-scale gold mining
releases between 650 and 1,000 metric tons of mercury per year," and
that this pollution accounts for "about a third of all mercury
releases to the environment from human activities."

Once in the atmosphere mercury eventually falls in rain or snow to the
ground or water. Rain and melting snow wash mercury into lakes and
streams and eventually into the oceans. Bacteria in the soil sediment
and water as well as plants convert mercury into methyl mercury. This
form of mercury can readily be absorbed into and remain in fish
tissue. Fish accumulate methyl mercury into their bodies by eating
plants or by direct contact with bacteria.

As ever-bigger fish eat small ones, methyl mercury accumulates in
their bodies. The larger the fish the greater the concentration of
mercury. Fish such as tuna, swordfish, and shark have some of the
highest concentrations. Methyl mercury levels can be 1 million times
higher than in the surrounding water.

A letter published in Medical Journal of Australia report on three
infants whose parents had sought medical advice for either
developmental delay or neurological symptoms in their children. All
three children had eaten fish congee, a rice and fish porridge, as a
weaning food and ate fish regularly as toddlers.

In the first reported case a 2-year-old boy had demonstrated
increasingly "aggressive behavior for the past 6 months." A general
practitioner had diagnosed the boy's father with mercury poisoning 2
months earlier following complaints of allergies, rashes, abdominal
pain, and diarrhea. The boy's blood mercury level was measured at 158
nmol/L [nanomoles per liter]. The normal range for adults is
considered less than 50 nmol/L.

In the second reported case a boy aged 2 years and 10 months presented
with "delayed speech and some autistic features." Since weaning, the
boy had eaten fish up to eight times a week. The child's blood mercury
level was 350 nmol/L. Two weeks after removing fish from the diet the
child's blood mercury level had fallen to 99 nmol/L. "However, his
behavior did not improve, and he was subsequently diagnosed with
classical autism."

Well, that throws the blanket of the idea of chelating a kid.



In the final reported case a 15-month-old boy was examined with
delayed development since birth. Fish had been introduced to his diet
at 8 months of age and had consumed fish four to five times a week.
The boys' mother had consumed fish three to four times a week after
the fifth month of her pregnancy. The boy's blood mercury level was
143 nmol/L, but feel to 19 nmol/L over a period of a year after
ceasing fish intake. "His longer-term development status is unknown."

The authors conclude with a recommendation that "multilingual
information about fish and mercury be made available to pregnant women
and mothers, especially targeting groups who are likely to be frequent
consumers of fish and who use fish in weaning and infant foods.
Regulatory and health promotion activities could also be informed by
surveillance of blood or hair mercury levels in infants from ethnic
groups at high risk of mercury intoxication, and of the frequency of
fish consumption in this age group."

SOURCE: Medical Journal of Australia, 2008