Familial Susceptibility to Mercury is a Risk Factor for Autism - New research shows six-fold risk of ASD in grandchildren of acrodynia survivors

SafeMinds calls on the pharmaceutical industry to remove mercury from all products, including vaccines. 

Researchers from Australia have identified an ancestry of Pink Disease (Infantile Acrodynia) as a risk factor for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Pink disease was common in the first half of the 20th century as a mysterious illness affecting children between the ages of eighteen months and three and a half years. The disorder presented with apathy, irritability, and progressive loss of speech, symptoms very similar to those exhibited by children with autism. Nearly fifty years passed before a connection was made between the disease and exposure to mercury in teething powder, worm medications and diaper rinses. The disease developed in approximately 1 in 500 children exposed to the products and experts identified idiosyncratic sensitivity to mercury as the key risk factor.

The new study, published July 28th in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health investigated the hypothesis that autism can result from the interaction between mercury exposure and a genetic predisposition to sensitivity to mercury. Currently, 43 peer-reviewed studies support a link between mercury and autism, and experts agree that autism is caused by the interaction of genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures.

The Australian researchers, David Austin, PhD and Kerrie Shandley investigated whether individuals with a known hypersensitivity to mercury were more likely to have descendants with an autism spectrum disorder. They surveyed 522 adult survivors of Pink Disease about the health of their grandchildren. They found that 1 in 25 of these grandchildren had an autism spectrum disorder compared to 1 in 160 children of the same ages in the general population in Australia; a staggering six-fold increase in relative risk. Dr. Austin had the following comment, "The large elevation in autism prevalence in this group of children was startling especially given that rates of other childhood disorders were at expected levels. The thing that differentiates these children from the general population, to which they were compared, is a family history of mercury sensitivity. We were simply blown away by the results."

SafeMinds Board member Lyn Redwood RN, MSN whose son was diagnosed with mercury toxicity and autism calls on the pharmaceutical industry to once and for all remove mercury from their products, "The FDA has identified over 130 medical products that contain mercury and 7 vaccines that contain mercury. The continued use of these products in to the 21st century when safer and more effective alternatives exist is unacceptable and dangerous."

For more information on the symptoms of Pink Disease and the overlap with autism please click here. 

HDNet World Report's Greg Dobbs interviews the authors of the "Unanswered Questions" study and families of vaccine-injured children about the government's claim that vaccines do not cause autism.  SafeMinds' Board Members Katie Wright and Katie Weisman and SafeMinds' Government Affairs Committee Member Mary Holland participated in the documentary.  If you do not have HDNet TV in your area, the program will be available for download at I-Tunes after the broadcast.

The 10th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant  

SafeMinds Executive Director Eric Uram attended the 10th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant held in Halifax, Nova Scotia the last week in July.  In attendance were 850 scientists and thought leaders on the issue of mercury in the global context.  Also in attendance were several staff and delegates from the UNEP negotiating team for the global mercury treaty.  Joining Eric was SafeMinds board member  Gayle DeLong.  

Over 700 papers and posters were presented on recent research into mercury's global presence and impacts.  The vast majority of research dealt with the transport of mercury after release into the environment by human activities and the fate of that mercury once in the global ecosystems.

The event built on nine previous iterations which have had very little to do with research on human health impacts.  A Conference Declaration on the state of knowledge regarding mercury as a global pollutant developed for the 8th ICMGP has been the guide for relevant research and policy-making over the past two conferences.  Read the Madison Declaration on Mercury Pollution here. 

Scientific research continues to create greater understanding about mercury, but has failed to unlock the secrets regarding the toxicology of mercury in its different forms - including how it enters and affects the brain and other organs before during and after the nervous system and other organs mature.  Presentations about mercury in wildlife currently give the best indications for understanding human impacts.  Several researchers have been looking at learning development in wildlife and have found distinct markers for these impacts in birds and mammals.  In 2013, the 11th ICMGP in Glasgow, Scotland plans to give greater coverage to human health issues. 

SafeMinds has launched a new website, SmartVax, to change the discourse on vaccines in a manner that will create a positive environment where consumers are empowered and scientists are encouraged to pursue the necessary research on vaccine-injury and vaccine-effectiveness. The website raises an important question: To what extent has an increase in vaccine-injuries changed the risks versus benefits of the USA vaccination program for young children? The SmartVax website provides a Weigh The Risks analysis of the current vaccine risks versus benefits for American children which indicates that vaccine-injury risk (1 in 13 children) is currently higher than the injury risk of each disease. The vaccine-injury risk was quantifiable for vaccine-induced asthma. Since there were insufficient studies available to calculate other risks, this section provides discussions on the plausibility of vaccine-induced autism, vaccine-induced allergies, vaccine-induced ADHD, and vaccine-induced deaths. The disease risk was calculated as the incremental risk to an individual child if that child is not vaccinated during ages 0 - 4 in two cases: 1) in a highly vaccinated population and 2) in a population with low vaccination rates: 

The point of this analysis is not to argue against vaccination programs, since vaccines can provide valuable protection against disease injuries and deaths, but rather to dispel the unproven assumption that all existing vaccines' benefits exceed risks in the USA today and to issue an urgent call to scientists for research to dramatically reduce vaccine-injuries. The SmartVax philosophy proposes that knowledge gained by understanding the mechanism of vaccine-injuries will lead to a smarter vaccination program that produces the best overall public health results.

Follow SmartVax on Facebook (HERE) and let us know your thoughts and suggestions in the online conversation there. If you find the information useful, please share the website information with prospective parents, family, and friends. 

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