Autism, born with it or acquired?

by Shirley

An interesting thread on mercury/autism that I came across in the archives on another board. It includes posts with Dr. Amy Holmes and her opinion. These are nearing a year old.

From: Penny Date: Mon Aug 28, 2000 5:02 am
Subject: classic autism vs late on-set autism

I'm wondering how well chelation treatments will work in dealing with classic autism. My son appeared to develop normally as far as gross motor skills but he never had any language and he always appeared very laid back. I think he was probably born autistic. We had his hair analysis done and he definitely has mercury, arsenic and many other toxins in him and we are working with Dr. Amy. It just seems as though you hear of great successes with those children who developed normally and then were effected by the vaccines. Are there any studies comparing the two types of autism and the results of chelating the toxins? I would love to hear input on this from the "experts" on this.

Also many thanks to all of those that sent me web sites on vaccines and mercury for my friend. She now has a ton of information to read.

Penny

Date: Mon Aug 28, 2000 2:01 pm
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] classic autism vs late on-set autism
Think about this thought pattern, during in vitro and while breastfeeding,you perhaps passed on the mercury toxicity? Related to your exposure?

Wonder if there really is truly classical autism, mom exposed the baby to the load of crap? Kind of makes sense to me?

Kathy

From: "Jim Blanco" >
Date: Mon Aug 28, 2000 2:45 pm
Subject: Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?
If your thinking is that a child is born autistic, consider this. I believe they are born poisined! There is an entierely new mindset in my mind that those moms who say their kids are born that way, probably were, but lets make this more sysinct, they weren't born autistic as much as they were born poisned in the womb. If you don't believe me, read these below, Just my opinion and my two cents (this also is not including other toxological insults such as dioxin, flouride, pesticides, endocrine disuruptions and other carcinogens). For other late arriving autisms, I point to vaccines as source or contributor. There are many abstracts on this, please think about this connection? For those who say, well Uncle so and so was aspergers, and another aunt has mild autism, I would venture their detox pathways for mercury detoxification ALSO aren't working. Susceptibility of mercury toxication can be had generationally or perhaps again, they are Virally and Toxically loaded, and who can withstand that?

Kathy

Palkiewicz P, Zwiers H, Lorscheider FL

ADP-Ribosylation of Brain Neuronal Proteins Is Altered by In Vitro and In

Vivo Exposure to Inorganic Mercury

Journal of Neurochemistry. 62(5):2049-2052, 1994 May Abstract ADP-ribosylation is an essential process in the metabolism of brain neuronal proteins, including the regulation of assembly and disassembly of biological polymers. Here, we examine the effect of HgCl2 exposure on the ADP-ribosylation of tubulin and actin, both cytoskeletal proteins also found in neurons, and B-50/43-kDa growth-associated protein (B-50/GAP-43), a neuronal tissue-specific phosphoprotein. In rats we demonstrate, with both in vitro and in vivo experiments, that HgCl2 markedly inhibits the ADP-ribosylation of tubulin and actin. This is direct quantitative evidence that HgCl2, a toxic xenobiotic, alters specific neurochemical reactions involved in maintaining brain neuron structure. [References: 15]

The effect of mercury vapour on cholinergic neurons in the fetal brain:

studies on the expression of nerve growth factor and its low- and high-affinity receptors.

Developmental Brain Research 85(1):96-108 (1995)

ABSTRACT: "The effects of mercury vapour on the production of nerve growth factor during development have been examined. Pregnant rats were exposed to two different concentrations of mercury vapour during either embryonic days E6-E11 (early) or E13-E18 (late) in pregnancy, increasing the postnatal concentration of mercury in the brain from 1 ng/g tissue to 4 ng/g tissue (low-dose group) or 11 ng/g (high-dose group). The effect of this exposure in offspring was determined by looking at the NGF concentration at postnatal days 21 and 60 and comparing these levels to age-matched controls from sham-treated mothers. Changes in the expression of mRNA encoding NGF, the low- and hogh-affinity receptors for NGF (p75 and p140 trk, espectively) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) were also determined. When rats were exposed to high levels of mercury vapour during early embryonic development there was a significant (62%) increase in hippocampal NGF levels at P21 accompanied by a 50% decrease of NGF in the basal forebrain. The expression of NGF mRNA was found to be unaltered in the dentate gyrus. The expression of p75 mRNA was significantly decreased to 39% of control levels in the diagonal band of Broca (DB) and to 50% in the medial septal nucleus (MS) whereas no alterations in the level of trk mRNA expression were detectable in the basal forebrain. ChAT mRNA was slightly decreased in the DB and MS, significantly in the striatum. These findings suggest that low levels of prenatal mercury vapour exposure can alter the levels of NGF and its receptors, indicating neuronal damage and distributed trophic regulations during development."

This research shows that mercury from a woman’s amalgam fillings crosses the placental barrier and travels into the brain of the unborn child. According to Professor Drasch, " Well, I think the implications are serious. It is a question of whether or not we have to restrict the application of dental amalgam to women, not only in child bearing age, but before. If for instance, a girl of 15 gets an amalgam filling, this filling lies in her mouth for 10 years. All this time this filling releases mercury. If this girl got pregnant when she has the filling, the mercury passes to the brain of the child. It’s really the question that is being discussed in Germany right now, to speak about restriction of amalgam fillings for women from, let me say, 15 to 50 years." Learning disabilities also seem to be characterized by a general pattern of high levels of mercury in the body.

The study also showed a directly proportional relationship between the number of amalgam fillings and the amount of mercury deposited in the cortex. Considering that mercury has a half-time of some 20 years in areas of the brain, there a lot of people in serious trouble. Dr. Friberg was quoted as saying, "There are no permissible limits on this. It is known that mercury is one of the most poisonous substances that exist." In other words, there is no scientific evidence anywhere which proves that the level of mercury found in the human brain is safe or that no damage occurs because of it.[ Friberg L., Kullman L.,Birger L., Nylander M., "Mercury in the central nervous system in relation to amalgam fillings" Lakartidningen Vol.83, Issue

7:519-521,1986.]

From: Amy Holmes >
Date: Tue Aug 29, 2000 5:23 pm
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?
Kathy,

I think you have hit the nail on the head!! I spoke recently to Bernie Rimland. The conversation (of course) eventually turned to mercury. He asked me if I thought all autistic children with no identifiable syndromes were all mercury-poisoned. I told him that I really didn't want to sound like a major loon, but I thought they were, at least based on my testing of about 200 autistic children so far. There was a long silence on the other end, and then he said that he had reviewed a lot of the data himself, and had come to exactly the same conclusion.

It appears that there is no difference in children "born" autistic and those who were developing normally and then had a regression. The only real difference may be the timing of the poisoning and maybe some individual susceptibility.

I can tell you what I did to my son:

1. had 21 amalgam fillings in my mouth while I was pregnant

2. ate tuna at least 3 times a week while pregnant

3. use thimerosal-containing contact lens solution while pregnant.

4. he got all vaccines "on time", all the ones that could have

possibly contained mercury did contain it.

Amy

From: "Donna Carver" : Tue Aug 29, 2000 5:46 pm
Subject: Re: Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

< I can tell you what I did to my son:

1. had 21 amalgam fillings in my mouth while I was pregnant

2. ate tuna at least 3 times a week while pregnant

3. use thimerosal-containing contact lens solution while pregnant.

4. he got all vaccines "on time", all the ones that could have

possibly contained mercury did contain it>

I also had amalgam fillings while pregnant.

I ate tuna on a daily basis not to mention Walleye from Lake Erie.

Used thimerosal contact lens solution until I realized that was what was causing my eyes to burn.

I had a flu shot while pregnant.

prior to prgenancy I recived a number of immunizations because I was a nurse and worked in the home health field.

I used chemicals to clean my house which I have since learned Is should have avoided!

My son then received, within hours of his birth, a hep b vaccine and continued to give him the "recommended vaccines on schedule"

after each immunization he would scream for weeks.

I didn't put it together until his DPT booster which caused him to regress and then I learned it contained thimerosal.

I once thought my son was "born" autistic, NOW I truely beleive he is a mercury/vaccine injured child.

Donna

From: "Jim Blanco" >
Date: Tue Aug 29, 2000 8:24 pm
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

Wow Amy,

I am honored you think along the same lines as I

I really believe, and can add to that list my personal malathion nuking as a child and while pregnant as also a source and I just found out where I lived back then there was a mercury mine up in the hills in Alameda California. I also have a mouthful, had vaccines on time, one before our marriage, and my husband went oversees many times with flu shots and the whole lot of them. To be sysinct, we were SUNK from the get go. I faxed your protocol to my neuro and he is highly interested in treating my kids with your protocol.

Although he will have to forward me off to a specialist who is an environmental physician. Is this the BEST person to see, or do they have a mindset already of what works? To reinterate, my kids fit ALL the tables, absolutely ALL of them are problems for them, scarry heh? I am also interested in our discussion today of the alleles, for both my kids have the c4b nulle allele, and my husband and I have half an allele on c4b.

Kathy

From: Terri Mykland >
Date: Wed Aug 30, 2000 4:36 am
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

Ok, so I'm ready and willing to be converted, and also share a "mercury-rich" history -- lots of fillings, lots of vaccinations myself -- but only one of my 3 children is autistic, and this remains my big question: WHY ONLY ONE??? All my kids were born at home, in completely uncomplicated, unmedicated births. All of them had good birth weights. We lived in the same place when kid #1 and kid #2 (one NT and one autistic) were born. I'm just really pounding my brain to know, if this is indeed mercury poisoning, WHY only some kids of a certain set of parents are affected, when the mercury-history, if you will, is almost identical. I did vaccinate the autistic kid more than the others, but not much more... is that the only thing that makes the difference? The autistic one is a boy and the others are girls. Is this the only thing that tips the balance? Either of these possibilities seems hard to believe. I'm sure I'm not the only parent looking at multiple children and wondering why the one who got the 'bullet' was the only one affected...?

Btw, my husband had all his mercury fillings replaced with white ones years ago, a couple years before we had kids. As far as I know, his dentist didn't take any special precautions in doing this. Does anyone know how this would have affected my hubbie's mercury levels and for how long? He feels like it improved his health significantly to have them removed, by the way. He did this long before it was popular to, because he's a physicist, and the minute he heard that there was mercury in fillings, he knew from all his science background this wasn't a good thing to have in your body.

Terri
mom to Zane, 7yo hfa, who just started 2nd grade today - yikes!

From: Amy Holmes <>
Date: Tue Aug 29, 2000 8:44 pm
Subject: Re: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

Kathy,

I don't think there is necessarily a best specialist to see. It is whoever will help you deotx your kid, do it right, and keep safety

first.

Amy

From: "Barb Romkema" >
Date: Wed Aug 30, 2000 11:27 am
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

So if major people in the autism world are convinced, why can we not get some kind of recourse?? Aren't there enough of us out here worldwide to start a class action suit or some kind of major media blitz? Don't people have enough connections? I cannot for the life of me figure out why we've had two major articles (Newsweek and Redbook) and neither one has mentioned the mercury issue! It makes me want to scream to think about another kid going into the clinic and being injected with mercury! Should we stand outside the vaccine company headquarters holding signs and tie ourselves to the flagpoles too?

My husband and I feel we should chelate all our kids (4), but there's no way we can afford that. Shouldn't every child that was given a vaccine containing thimeresol have at least the opportunity to be chelated? What's the difference between spending money on LD teachers, therapy etc. or spending money on chelating? One way is just coping, the other, perhaps a partial cure, if not total. Let's do what makes economic and humanitarian sense here! They recall tires that may be faulty--why not vaccines?

Barb

From: "M. Alexander" >
Date: Wed Aug 30, 2000 12:10 pm
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

I told my husband about a month ago that it wouldn't be long before people started looking into a class action law suit on this topic.

I am very interested in this subject of a class action law suit. Before having my daughter, I was a paralegal for 12 years, so the law is "my thing" if you know what I mean

. I am especially interested in it now, as in the past I always thought by daughter's autism was something she was born with and that thimerosol just exacerbated it. However,now that I've learned that she probably got a vaccine in the hospital before we went home, I AM FURIOUS!!! I did not know this. Our daughter didn't have a sudden regression, and in looking back has always exhibited "classic" autistic behavior.

I'm too angry to speak about this right now. But, seeking recourse is not out of the question.

Missy

From: "Ronald Shippy" <>> Date: Wed Aug 30, 2000 6:29 pm Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

Dear Terri,

No, you are not the only parent wondering why one child gets affected, and the others don't. A lot of us feel that way too. Nobody knows why girls are less affected by autism than boys. Three times as many boys develop autism as girls. It's the 64 million dollar question. We do know, however, that different people have very different reactions to the same amount of mercury. Teresa Binstock over on the abmd list has posted some excellent articles about the fact that the sensitivity to mercury is wildly different in different people. As for you husband, getting the mercury out did help, so he must have some sensitivity, but he was able to function. Usually in that case, the body shows mercury for a while, from weeks to months, and then the levels go down in the blood. There may be some left, stored away in the organs. Most of us in this world have some Hg, but it doesn't bother us much, or we don't connect our health problems to mercury. Others with a larger amount, or with more sensitivity can feel really terrible. I'm really looking forward to the time when we know all the answers about Hg and how to get rid of it safely, and well. So very many of us will feel so much better. Regards, Becky, mom to 26 year old Mike

From: "Lyn Redwood" <>
Date: Wed Aug 30, 2000 9:32 pm
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?

Barb,

Ditto here, Just let me know when and where for the sit in, tie up or whatever. I'll be there! I've done every rational thing I could think of to do, even filing a petition with FDA for a class 1 recall of all remaining infant vaccines containing thimerosal. See attached! But, still no response!

Lyn

From: "elevatordance" <>
Date: Thu Aug 31, 2000 6:59 am
Subject: Re: [Autism-Mercury] Born Autistic or Born Poisined? That is the question?
Boys are more susceptible to low level mercury toxicity than girls.

Heidi

Posted on Jul 3, 2001, 12:20 PM

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