Last year SafeMinds and the National Autism Association sponsored a two day symposium regarding the role of environmental factors in neurodevelopmental disorders, which was made possible by the generous support of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The symposium brought leading experts together from the fields of toxicology, environmental health science, neuroscience and clinical science and researchers to review new findings for the purpose of making recommendations regarding future research initiatives. The recommendations from these esteemed leaders were utilized in designing a roadmap for future research into the role of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of autism.

Findings from the symposium were presented to Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental health (NIMH), the lead agency responsible for autism research at National Institutes of Health (NIH ) in August of this year. This presentation included a leveraged environmental research agenda for autism spectrum disorders and recommendations for revision to the NIH autism research matrix. At that time we submitted a request that our information be presented to the NIH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) at their next meeting. Click here to read recommendations.

These efforts resulted in Dr. Jeff Bradstreet presenting “The Role of Environmental Factors in the Pathogenesis of Autism: Phenotypes, Lab Markers, Clinical Interventions and Suggested Areas for Research” to the IACC at their recent November 17th meeting . Please click here to view Dr. Bradstreet’s presentation.

Subsequently, NIMH convened a panel of experts to review the progress made to date on the autism research matrix on September 25th. The symposium findings, as well as our research recommendations, were distributed to all the panel members. There was consensus from the expert panel that there was insufficient attention given to role of the environment in autism in the first incarnation of the matrix. It was also noted by the panel that there were numerous areas suggesting the need for additional research, which included the role that vaccines and immunotoxic chemicals may play in autism.

Several new areas of investigation have been suggested into the role of envinronmental factors in autism and are included in the draft report of evaluation results. At their November 17th meeting, the IACC agreed to post the draft report of the evaluation results for public comment. Please click here to read the report.

It is important that our voices be heard. SafeMinds encourages everyone to read the draft report and submit comments to the IACC by January 16, 2007. Click here to submit comments.

On December 19, 2006 President Bush signed the Combating Autism Act which authorizes nearly $1 billion for autism research, screening, early detection and early intervention over the next five year. This legislation will increase federal spending on autism by at least 50 percent.

"For the millions of Americans whose lives are affected by autism, today is a day of hope,” said President Bush. “The Combating Autism Act of 2006 will increase public awareness about this disorder and provide enhanced federal support for autism research and treatment. By creating a national education program for doctors and the public about autism, this legislation will help more people recognize the symptoms of autism. This will lead to early identification and intervention, which is critical for children with autism. I am proud to sign this bill into law and confident that it will serve as an important foundation for our Nation's efforts to find a cure for autism.”

For more information on the Combating Autism Act, please visit www.combatautism.org.

Next June, when the Vaccine Trial of the Century gets underway in Federal Claims Court, government lawyers will defend the direct injection of toxic mercury into infant children by repeating the well- worn mantra that "five large population studies" in Europe and the US have completely exonerated the vaccine preservative thimerosal as a possible cause of autism.

But now it seems they may need to tuck a "Plan B" into their Federal briefcase.

UPI Senior Editor Dan Olmsted reported in his "Age of Autism" column that an NIH-led panel of experts has "identified several serious problems" plaguing the database used to produce the US vaccine study - the lynchpin of the "five large population studies" showing that organic mercury is just fine to shoot into kids.

The expert panel report, signed by NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, was sent to Congress in response to a query from Sen. Joseph Lieberman and seven colleagues last February. They wanted to know if the US database, the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), could be used to compare autism rates in kids before, during, and after the gradual removal of thimerosal, which began in roughly 2000.

Unfortunately, the answer was a resounding "not really." A laundry list of "weaknesses" and "limitations" associated with the database would render such a comparative analysis "uninformative and potentially misleading," the panel said, (though it did suggest some excellent ways to re-approach the data going into the future).

Click here to read the full article.

This study, by DK Cheuk and V Wong of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, at The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P. R. China was published in the August 2006 issue of Neuropediatrics.

The objective of the study was to investigate the association between blood mercury level and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Chinese children in Hong Kong. Fifty-two children with ADHD aged below 18 years diagnosed by DSM IV criteria without perinatal brain insults, mental retardation or neurological deficits were recruited from a developmental assessment center. Fifty-nine normal controls were recruited from a nearby hospital. Blood mercury levels were measured by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

The conclusion of the study was that high blood mercury level was associated with ADHD. The mean ages of cases and controls were 7.06 and 7.81 years respectively. Boys predominated (case = 44 [84.6 %], control = 44 [74.6 %]). There was significant difference in blood mercury levels between cases and controls (geometric mean 18.2 nmol/L [95 % CI 15.4 - 21.5 nmol/L] vs. 11.6 nmol/L [95 % CI 9.9 - 13.7 nmol/L], p < 0.001), which persists after adjustment for age, gender and parental occupational status (p < 0.001). The geometric mean blood mercury level was also significantly higher in children with inattentive (19.4 nmol/L, 95 % CI 13.3 - 28.5 nmol/L) and combined (18.0 nmol/L, 95 % CI 14.9 - 21.8 nmol/L) subtypes of ADHD. Blood mercury levels were above 29 nmol/L in 17 (26.9 %) cases and 6 (10.2 %) controls. Children with blood mercury level above 29 nmol/L had 9.69 times (95 % CI 2.57 - 36.5) higher risk of having ADHD after adjustment for confounding variables.

EATING fish has long been tough choice for expectant mothers. On the one hand, it contains omega-3 fatty acids, which can boost birth weight and cognitive abilities. On the other, fish can also contain mercury, which causes severe neurological damage to the fetus. Now it seems that mercury poses yet another risk: premature birth. Fei Xue of the Harvard School of Public Health and her colleagues tested a group of 1024 pregnant women in Michigan and found an average mercury level of 0.29 parts per million in their hair. Those who ate more fish tended to carry more mercury, with canned fish associated with the highest mercury levels.

Women who gave birth more than two weeks early were three times as likely to have mercury concentrations of at least 0.55 ppm than those who carried their babies to term (Environmental Health Perspectives, DOI: 10.1289/ehp.9329). However, since only 44 of the women gave birth prematurely, Xue says further research is needed to firm up the statistical significance. "The messages are really very conflicting because fish is both a benefit and a potential source of hazard," says Xue. Until the risks become clearer, she recommends taking fish oil supplements instead. From issue 2573 of New Scientist magazine, 14 October 2006, page 16

Five “hotspots” of mercury contamination posing a risk to human health have been found in the eastern states of the US and eastern provinces of Canada. Average mercury concentrations in many of the region’s freshwater fish exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recommended level for safe consumption by up to 20 times.

Mercury is a well known neurotoxin. The study, led by David Evers at the Biodiversity Research Institute in Maine, raises concerns that current US laws to limit mercury emissions are falling short. The EPA safety limit for the consumption of mercury is 0.3 parts per million, yet perch in some locations contained a concentration of about 5 parts per million. The researchers found the average mercury concentration in fish across the region was between 10% and 88% above the limit, depending on the species.

Over four years, the researchers measured mercury levels in edible fish, as well as eagles, otters and mink across New England and New York in the US, and Nova Scotia in Canada. They found five hotspots where levels were particularly high, plus nine areas of concern.

These included parts of the Adirondack Mountains in New York, the Merrimack river in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the Kennebec river in Maine and Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada. (An earlier part of the research programme found high mercury levels in songbirds.)

Magnifying effect
Coal-fired power stations are the main culprits, says Evers. While the atmospheric mercury emitted from these stations poses no public health risk, some environments – typically forested areas with wetland – encourage greater deposition of the mercury on the ground. Once deposited, the mercury is concentrated further via the aquatic food chain, sometimes by 10 million times. “It magnifies," says Evers.

In 2005, the EPA issued the Clean Air Mercury Rule, which aims to reduce and cap emissions from power stations. While the law is progressive – the US was the first to implement such a rule – it allows companies to purchase emission allowances to comply with regulations.

Like carbon trading, the ultimate aim is to reduce overall emissions from power stations. Yet some of the hotspots appear to have higher levels of mercury because of local sources, says Evers. “The premise of the law is that mercury deposition can‘t happen locally,” he says. “There’s more and more evidence that this is not the case.”

Levels of mercury deposition across the north east are four to six times higher than 100 years ago, he adds.

Journal reference: Bioscience (January 2007)

Please join us for a debate between David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm and Arthur Allen, author of Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver

Date: January 13, 2007
Lecture & Debate: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Book Signing & Reception: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Location: UC San Diego, Price Center, 9500 Gilman Dr. La Jolla Ca 92093
Cost: The debate is free if your R.S.V.P. is received online by January 9, 2007. Cost is $10 if you RSVP after January 9th or sign up onsite. Click here to register.
Reception & Book Signing : $5

This event is sponsored by Generation Rescue, Safe Minds, Talk About Curing Autism and The Cognitive Science Department of the University of California, San Diego.

David Kirby's Bio: David Kirby has been a professional journalist for over 15 years, and wrote for The New York Times for more than eight years. Kirby was a contracted writer with the weekly City Section at The Times, where he covered public health, local politics, art and culture, film and theater, architecture, zoning and land use, among many other subjects. He has also contributed to The Magazine, Arts & Leisure, Personal Health, Men's Health, Science Times, Escapes, Travel, Weekend and other sections of the paper. Kirby has also written for a number of national magazines, including Glamour, Redbook, Marie Claire, Mademoiselle, Self, Art News, and others. In addition, Kirby was a foreign correspondent in Mexico and Central America from 1986-1990, where he covered the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and covered politics, corruption and natural disasters in Mexico. From Latin America, he reported for UPI, the San Francisco Examiner, Newsday, The Arizona Republic, Houston Chronicle and the NBC Radio Network.

Arthur Allen's Bio: Arthur Allen was born in Cincinnati and educated at the University of California, Berkeley where he received an undergraduate degree in Development Studies. He was a foreign correspondent for the Associate Press in El Salvador during the war in that country, and later was based in Mexico City, Paris, and Bonn, Germany. Since 1995, he has been a freelance magazine writer in Washington, D.C., specializing in biomedical affairs. Allen is particularly interested in how society responds to changes in technology. His book (to be released in January 2007) chronicles the rough and tumble history of vaccines as well as the social and cultural response to vaccination programs, from Cotton Mather's Boston in the early 18th Century, to present-day conflicts over vaccine safety and supply. Allen lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, the writer Margaret Talbot, and his two children.

Please join a new Yahoo group called MIA-Mercury Induced Autism. The goal in the formation of this list was to create a resource where parents, grandparents, and anyone whose life has been impacted by mercury induced autism could go to seek information or find support.

Topics will include research, advocacy, treatments, insurance, education, and news as it relates to the autism community. And also a place where you will always feel welcome.

Please help us to make this list a huge success by sharing your experiences, events, questions or concerns. This is a very important time and there is much to be done to help our children. We expect this to be a positive, productive list and hope you will join us.

To join the discussion please click here.