I have personally never been a believer in possible alleged mercury (thimerosal) autism link. Primarily because I accept the overwhelming consensus in the world scientific community that there is no link. Second, because I don't believe in the conspiracy angle of those who postulate a mercury autism link. Third, for personal reasons, my son displayed unusual behavior, which we have documented in a large photograph collection, since birth. None the less I think that Michael Wagnitz has made a very interesting argument for the mercury vaccine connection. Mr. Wagnitz is a chemist with 20 years experience working trace metal analysis who argues that recent findings of clinical studies examining brain tissue, blood, urine and human cells make a strong case for thimerosal as the agent causing the neuroinflammation which has been found in the brains of deceased autistic persons. The following article in the Madison Wisconsin Capital Times is worth a read. It will be interesting to read critiques of Mr. Wagnitz' theory but for now at least maybe it is worth waiting for more study before writing off the mercury-autism link.
Michael Wagnitz: Research supports mercury-autism link
By Michael Wagnitz
It was reported repeatedly in 2006 that the link between mercury-containing vaccines and autism has been disproven. Yet if one looks at the most recent research coming from some of our major universities, one may draw the opposite conclusion.
What we have learned in the last couple of years is that the underlying medical condition of autism is neuroinflammatory disease. In a study conducted at John Hopkins University, brain tissue from deceased autistic patients was examined. The tissue showed an active neuroinflammatory process and marked activation of microglia cells. Neuroinflammatory disease is synonymous with an activation of microglia cells.
A study done at the University of Washington showed that baby primates exposed to injected thimerosal (50 percent mercury), at a rate equal to the 1990s childhood vaccine schedule, retained twice as much inorganic mercury in their brains as primates exposed to equal amounts of ingested methylmercury. We know from autometallographic determination that inorganic mercury present in the brain, following the dealkylation of organic mercury, is the toxic agent responsible for changes in the microglial population and leads to neuroinflammation.
Recently it was shown that in more than 250 examined patients, atypical urinary porphyrins were almost three times higher in autistic patients than controls. Porphyrins are precursors to heme, the oxygen-carrying component of blood. Mercury inhibits the conversion of porphyrins to heme. When the patients were treated to remove mercury, urinary porphyrins returned to normal levels.
In a study done at the University of Arkansas, autistic children were found to have significantly lower levels of the antioxidant glutathione. Glutathione is the major antioxidant needed for the elimination of mercury at the cellular level. This may explain why some children are more severely affected by thimerosal in vaccines than others.
While all the government-conducted epidemiological (statistical) studies show no link between thimerosal and autism, the clinical studies examining brain tissue, blood, urine and human cells show a completely different picture.
Michael Wagnitz is a Madison resident with more than 20 years of experience as a chemist working with trace metal analysis.
Published: February 27, 2007
http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=120748&ntpid=1
jypsy forwarded a link to the John Jopkins Medicine Department of Neurology which is very informative on autism and neuroinflammation and should be read by anyone following up on the topic:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/neuroimmunopath/autism_faqs.htm