New California Study on Children's Blood Mercury Levels Leaves Unanswered Questions About Mercury's Role in Autism
SafeMinds Calls for Studies on Early Exposures and Altered Mercury Susceptibility, End to Mercury in Influenza Vaccines.
Monday, October 19, 2009 - The science journal Environmental Health Perspectives released findings from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study comparing blood mercury levels in children with and without an autism spectrum disorder. The study assessed blood mercury concentrations from recent exposures and did not assess or compare effects of earlier exposures in typical children or children with autism.
The study found that current blood mercury levels were lower in the autism group and, given equivalent exposures, blood levels were the same relative to typical children. It observed that blood levels in the typical group were comparable to those reported in the large CDC National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) study. The authors were careful to note that the study was not designed to address or determine whether earlier exposures played a role in autism onset or if the group with autism had increased susceptibility to mercury exposures, regardless of when the exposure occurred. Read more.
|
NIH Agency Head Backs Vaccine-Autism Research on Friday; Resigns from Federal Autism Panel on Saturday
By David Kirby From Huffington Post
Story Landis, PhD, director of the National Institute of
Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), an NIH agency,
surprised many parents on Friday by stating that autism researchers
should study "the children who have been most profoundly affected" by
adverse reactions to vaccination.
On Saturday, Dr. Landis abruptly resigned from the powerful
Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), which helps direct
hundreds of millions in federal tax dollars to autism research,
treatment, care and services.
In her letter of resignation, Dr. Landis cited embarrassing notes
she had left behind after a recent meeting of the IACC that "triggered
frustration and anger" among many autism parents; and for having
"inadvertently introduced a distraction" from autism research. She did
not mention her newfound support for vaccine-autism investigations in
the letter. Read more.
|
|
10 Sources of Mercury That You Can Do Something About: Fluorescent Lighting.
By Katie Weisman for the SafeMinds Environmental Committee
Last year SafeMinds published a series of articles on the
hazards and mercury
pollution created by the use of fluorescent bulbs and, in
particular, compact fluorescent bulbs because of their use in home
environments. The entire series can be
accessed on the SafeMinds' website, but here are the "take home"
messages from those articles:
- The amount of mercury from
a broken bulb, even in a "low-mercury" bulb, is enough to create a health
risk in an enclosed room, particularly if a pregnant woman or young child
is using the space.
- The limited science
available indicates that it is difficult to clean-up a broken fluorescent
adequately to prevent ongoing health risks. Our currently recommended clean-up
protocol is also available on our website (link here). It includes several steps that may be
counter-intuitive, so we highly recommend that you read it before you find
yourself in a breakage situation (these include closing off and
ventilating the space before attempting clean-up and not using a vacuum
cleaner).
- All fluorescent bulbs
should be recycled; they should never be put in regular trash. Information regarding fluorescent
recycling is grossly lacking in many parts of the country and recycling
programs that are available are often inconvenient.
Read more.
|
Flu  Vaccines: Pregnancy and Children
What You Need to Know
Help us spread the word about this - please download the SafeMinds flu brochure or request copies mailed to you at no charge to distribute in your community.
|
New Jersey Funnyraiser is No Joke!
 Thanks to all of you who attended the New Jersey Funnyraiser to benefit SafeMinds on October 17, 2009. Good food, good friends, good laughs . . . and good work! More than $6,000 was raised to help support the SafeMinds vision of creating optimal health in pregnant women, infants and
children through the elimination of unnecessary exposure to mercury in
its many forms. Special thanks to event our event sponsors! Gold sponsors:
Gayle DeLong and Heidi Roger,
Silver Sponsors:
Brian Kerwin and
Lyn Redwood;
Bronze Sponsors: Lori
Brozek/ Pentimento Magazine, Maria
& Tim Dwyer,
Impact
Philanthropy Group,
Jane
Johnson and
David
Kidd.
|
