AUTISM - Currently one in every 68 families in America has an autistic child.

Autism was discovered in 1943, in American children, twelve years after ethyl mercury (thimerosal) was added to the pertussis vaccine.  (The disease was not seen in Europe until the 1950s, after thimerosal was added to vaccines used there.) In a typical case, shortly before his 2^nd birthday a normally developing, healthy boy stops communicating with others and withdraws into himself. He avoids eye contact and becomes strange and aloof. His vision becomes blurred; and he develops various motor disturbances, such as involuntary jerking of the arms and legs and walking on his toes. In addition to these manifestations, Dr. Sallie Bernard and her colleagues, in a study titled, "Autism: A Unique Type of Mercury Poisoning," describe the speech difficulties, unusual behavior (such as unprovoked crying spells and head banging), various degrees of cognitive impairment, gastrointestinal difficulties, and immune difficulties that these autistic children can have. Mercury is most likely a causative factor in other developmental disorders as well, such as delayed speech and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Investigators have shown that there is a direct relationship between increasing doses of mercury in vaccines and autism. In the 1950s, with an immunization schedule limited to four vaccines (against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and smallpox), 1 in 10,000 children developed this disease. As vaccines for other diseases were added, health care providers began injecting increasingly larger doses of mercury into children. Those born in 1981 were given 135 micrograms of mercury (on average), and one case of autism occurred in every 2,600 children born that year. With the addition of hepatitis B vaccine (injected on the day of birth) and one for Haemophilus influenzae Type b, providers injected 246 micrograms of mercury into children born in 1996. Autism occurred in one out of every 350 of these children. Today, providers follow an immunization schedule, prepared by the CDC and approved by the AAP and AAFP, that includes 13 vaccines given, with variable numbers of booster shots, 33 times before a child reaches the age of 2 (when the development of the brain is completed). Autism now afflicts 1 in 100 boys and 1 in 400 girls, and physicians diagnose 100,000 new cases of this disease every year in the U.S (using diagnostic criteria, in the DSM-IV, that is more restrictive than the previous DSM-IIIR). Over the last 30 years more than one million children have come down with this disease, and currently one in every 68 families in America has an autistic child.

Mainstream medical journals, like Pediatrics and The New England Journal of Medicine, only publish studies that claim thimerosal is safe. And it turns out that these articles are written in large part by researchers in the pay of vaccine makers, as the Coalition for Safe Minds (Sensible Action For Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders), a private nonprofit organization, has shown. Editors of these journals will not publish studies that show a link between thimerosal and autism like "Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment Disorders, and Heart Disease in the United States" by Mark and David Geier, which documents a strong association between the amounts of mercury injected in vaccines and autism. Such articles can only find acceptance in alternative (i.e., "politically incorrect") journals like the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, where this one was published.

The amount of damage a given dose of mercury can do to the brain (and also the heart) depends on one’s age, sex, and genetically determined ability to excrete mercury. Young children with still developing brains are more susceptible, and males are more vulnerable to a given dose of mercury because testosterone enhances its neurotoxicity. Most important, however, is one’s genetically programmed ability to rid the body of mercury. The brain has a house-cleaning protein that removes dangerous waste products, which comes in three varieties: APO-E2, APO-E3, and APO-E4. The APO-E2 protein can carry 2 atoms of mercury out of the brain; APO-3, one; and AOP-E4, none. The genes we acquire from each parent determine which two we have. People with two APO-E4 proteins (and thus no APO-E2 or -E3) have an 80 percent chance of acquiring Alzheimer’s disease. And according to one study, autistic children have a huge preponderance of APO-E4 protein in their brains.
Source: Mercury and Autism Autism linked to Mercury and Thermisol poisoning through vaccinations. KEYWORDS to use for your own independent research are Advanced health plan, scientific health, autism, toxic heavy metal, medical mistakes, metals, vaccinations, vaccines, mercury, add, adhd, thermosil, alzheimer's disease, natural cure, autistic child, mercury poisoning, brain, thimerosal vaccine injections, immunizations, danger vaccinations, ethylmercury.

Autism: A Unique Type of Mercury Poisoning
Autism is a syndrome characterized by impairments in social relatedness, language and communication, a need for routine and sameness, abnormal movements, and sensory dysfunction. Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that can exist as a pure element or in a variety of inorganic and organic forms and can cause immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions similar to traits defining or associated with autism. Thimerosal, a preservative frequently added to childhood vaccines, has become a major source of Hg in human infants and toddlers. According to the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatricians, fully vaccinated children now receive, within their first two years, Hg levels that exceed safety limits established by the FDA and other supervisory agencies. A thorough review of medical literature and U.S. government data indicates (i) that many and perhaps most cases of idiopathic autism, in which an extended period of developmental normalcy is followed by an emergence of symptoms, are induced by early exposure to Hg; (ii) that this type of autism represents a unique form of Hg poisoning (HgP); (iii) that excessive Hg exposure from thimerosal in vaccine injections is an etiological mechanism for causing the traits of autism; (iv) that certain genetic and non-genetic factors establish a predisposition whereby thimerosal's adverse effects occur only in some children; and (v) that vaccinal Hg in thimerosal is causing a heretofore unrecognized mercurial syndrome.

Source: VACCINATION NEWS

Autism: Denmark Study
“It is important to note that the study only focused on the MMR vaccine, and not vaccines also implicated in autism which contain the mercury preservative thimerosal,” explains Sallie Bernard, executive director of Safe Minds. “The study also failed to investigate whether the MMR vaccine might be interacting with the thimerosal from other vaccines to increase the severity of symptoms in children who already have autism.

Finally, the study did not differentiate between regressive autism, which is the type being linked to MMR vaccine, and the more prevalent early onset autism, which is the type being linked to thimerosal.”

Safe Minds is an advocacy organization which focuses on the role of mercury in neurodevelopmental disrorders, including autism. It was founded by parents of autistic children. Thimerosal contains 50% ethylmercury and has been used in most recommended childhood vaccines, including the Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP), Haemophilus influenzae type B (HiB), and Hepatitis B (Hep B) vaccines.

Research studies have shown that mercury exposure in utero or during early postnatal life – the time when thimerosal vaccines are being given – can cause immune system abnormalities which predispose the child to ongoing viral infections. It is biologically plausible that this immune disruption may have allowed the live measles virus component in the MMR vaccine to persist in susceptible autistic children, making the symptoms of the disorder worse. This connection would not be detected through an epidemiology study like the Denmark one. Nor does the Denmark study have the power to detect differences in rates of regressive autism between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, since the number of regressive cases – estimated to be 10%-20% of all autism cases - would be too small.

“The overreaching conclusion of the study should not obscure other important findings from this extensive and well planned analysis from Denmark,” continued Ms. Bernard. “The authors report an increased prevalence of autism in that country, and thus it supports other recent studies that are also showing increases. This rise tells us that an environmental agent is at work worldwide that is driving this trend. We believe that thimerosal and environmental mercury – which are worldwide pollutants – are behind the surge. Also, Denmark has had lower and later exposures to thimerosal in vaccines, and the report shows that their rate of autism is lower than in the US, which is also consistent with a thimerosal connection.”

Source: Notes by Sallie Bernard of Safe Minds

Mercury Causes Autism
Although they afflict widely different age groups, autism and Alzheimer’s disease share a common cause: mercury. Dr. Boyd Haley, professor and chair of the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. Bernard Rimland, founder of the Autism Research Institute, presented evidence at this year’s Doctors for Disaster Preparedness meeting that connects mercury with these diseases.

This heavy metal is highly poisonous. A Dartmouth professor studying the chemical characteristics of an organic form of mercury – dimethyl mercury – spilled two drops of it on her gloved hand. The first sign of mercury poisoning occurred four months later when her speech began to be slurred. This was followed by difficulty walking and loss of vision. She then fell into a coma and died. Another person, attempting to smelt the silver in dental amalgams he obtained (they are 35 percent silver, 50 percent mercury, and 15 percent tin, zinc, and other metals), heated them in a frying pan. The mercury vapor thus generated killed him quickly. The two other family members in the house at the time also died.

Mercury is one proton (neutron and electron) heavier than gold – the atomic number of gold is 79; mercury, 80. It is distributed throughout the earth’s crust. Unlike other metals, mercury, in its elemental state, is liquid (molten) at room temperature. And it releases a steady stream of gaseous mercury atoms that linger in the atmosphere for months (eventually falling back to earth and its oceans in an inorganic form in rain drops). Even when in a solid state, combined with other metals as an alloy, mercury atoms continually escape into the atmosphere. Once added to latex paint, put in teething powder, used in making hats, as a fungicide on seeds, as an antiseptic (Merthiolate), and as a treatment for syphilis (the cure was worse than the disease), human exposure to mercury today comes principally from three sources: dental amalgams, vaccines, and fish.
Source: Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD

Thanks Dan Burton - Autism  Dec. 6, 2002
A United States congressman is calling for criminal penalties for any government agency that knew about the dangers of thimerosal in vaccines, and did nothing to protect American children. Last month, a News 8 Investigation disclosed allegations that some government officials may have suppressed documentation about the risks. Some of those officials testified at Wednesday's congressional hearing. News 8 research showed that the FDA began asking questions about the dangers of thimerosal back in 1972. By 1992, the preservative had been pulled out of dog vaccines and contact lens solutions because of the risks.

However, it remained in vaccines for children until last year. Government health officials squirmed uncomfortably in their seats Wednesday as more evidence emerged suggesting that they misled the public. "You mean to tell me that since 1929, we've been using thimerosal," Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana) said to the officials, "and the only test that you know of is from 1929, and every one of those people had meningitis, and they all died?"

For nearly an hour, Burton repeatedly asked FDA and CDC officials what they knew and when they knew it. And when memories seemed to be a bit fuzzy, the congressman produced old memos as a refresher. One memo, from 1999, states that the FDA had an "interim plan ... already in place for many years" to get rid of thimerosal. The same e-mail also addresses the FDA's fear that it will be accused by the public of being "asleep at the switch for decades, by allowing a dangerous compound to remain in childhood vaccines".   Source: Vaccine Truth

Wed, May. 14, 2003
California's Autism Rate Doubles - SAN FRANCISCO - The number of autistic children in California has nearly doubled in the last four years, a new state report shows.   ....(MORE)