Autism is mercury poisoning. So says Generation Rescue and a chatroom full of convinced parents. I feel I’ve shown conclusively the fallacy in that position.
Much more ambiguous is the belief that mercury could trigger autism. There does seem to be evidence that increased rates of environmental agents might have led some children to become ill. What is still up in the air for me personally is – is this illness really autism? How many of these children are there? What were the exact circumstances of their onset? Unfortunately, due to the paucity of data on these issues its impossible, or next to impossible, to answer any of them with any degree of accuracy. Not that that seems to have stopped a sizable proportion of hysterics leaping to conclusions. And not that that seems to have stopped the burgeoning autism money-making-machine in the guise of Generation Rescue and David Kirby cashing in on this state of ignorance. Those of us who question are set upon and misrepresented and in the meantime we have to put up with hearing other parents of autistics and various hacks and quacks describe our kids as sub-normal, dead inside, in a black hole, disappeared, missing, part of a plague, part of an epidemic, a parents worst nightmare, a living hell, a disaster and various other niceties. I wonder what members of other minority groups would be happy hearing themselves described in such a way?
Anyway, climbing off my soapbox, it struck me that if mercury (and particularly mercury in vaccines) was such a high causer of autism then where are all the girls?
The gender segregation of autism shows boys are 4 times as likely to be autistic as girls. There are no clear evidential paths that can account for this yet and bearing this in mind, it seems puzzling that mercury could be used as a scapegoat for all incidences of autism as claimed by Generation Rescue and its proponents. Or could it? Does mercury affect boys more than girls?
It’s difficult to find a lot of data on this but everything I’ve found so far indicates the gender plays no role in mercury poisoning. For example, an eMedicine study into the Minamata Bay incident (a factory discharged inorganic mercury into the water), researchers concluded:
Sex: No gender predisposition has been identified clearly.
David A Olson, MD, Consulting Staff, Department of Neurology, Dekalb Medical Center.
And from a separate article in the HSE:
n the U.S.: The 1998 annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ toxic exposure surveillance system noted 4,039 exposures to mercury. Of these, 1,039 were in children younger than 6 years, and 1,385 were older than 19 years. Overall, 68 patients were reported to have moderate effects, 12 patients had major effects, and 3 patients died as a result of mercury exposure. There is no scientific evidence that demonstrates any difference in outcome following exposure to mercury that is attributable to gender.
Barry Diner, MD, Barry Brenner, MD, PhD.
That’s all I can find. There may be more but if there is I couldn’t find it. Seems pretty clear cut though – there’s no gender favouring from mercury. And bearing that in mind, how do we account for all the autistic boys? Where are all the girls?
Left Brain Right Brain 
I was listening to late night talk radio last week while falling asleep and the guest enlightened me about the cause of autism. He was discussing toxins in our foods and pointed out that MSG causes autism. He didn’t say influences, he said “causes”.
When my two boys on spectrum were born, we lived a block away from a chinese restaurant and got take out about once a week. I guess this could be taken as “supporting evidence” that MSG causes autism.
At least I know the late night talk radio shows are only worthwhile for their entertainment value. I laughed, turned off the radio and went to sleep.
I know what you mean Shawn – every week there seems to be a ‘XXX causes autism’ story with an ever inventive media ready to hype it to death.
LOL Shawn! I spent the first 5 months of my pregnancy (with my autistic son) in Thailand where they put MSG in everything. Another thing to beat myself up over 😉
It is not true that there is no scientific evidence that demonstrates any difference in outcome following exposure to mercury that is attributable to gender. The addition of testosterone to in vitro neuronal cells intensifies considerably the damage caused by thimerosal (which contains ethyl mercury) if it is also present, while the additon of estrogen seems to have a protective effect. Doing a simple google search on Dr. Boyd Haley, thimerosal, and testosterone should readily bring up further details about these studies. Aasa
I didn’t say it was true Aasa, I said couldn’t find anyything else on the subject. I note that you also fail to provide a backup for your statements.
I also question Boyd Haleys ethics and competence. This is the ‘doctor’ who referred to our children as having ‘Mad Child Disease’.