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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers at the University of California (UC) Davis MIND Institute report that typically developing children and children with autism have similar levels of mercury in their blood streams.
Researchers studied a wide variety of sources of mercury in the participants' environments, including fish consumption, personal-care products and the types of vaccinations they received. The study also examined whether children who have dental fillings made of the silver-colored mercury-based amalgam and who grind their teeth or chew gum had higher blood-mercury levels.
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Those children who have amalgams and who chew gum did have higher blood-mercury levels. But the consumption of fish -- both salt water and fresh water fish -- was by far the most significant predictor of high blood-mercury levels.
Mercury is a heavy metal known to adversely affect the developing nervous system. The researchers cautioned that this study is not an examination of whether mercury plays a role in causing autism.
"We looked at blood-mercury levels in children who had autism and children who did not have autism," lead study author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, MIND Institute researcher and professor of environmental and occupational health, was quoted as saying. "The bottom line is that blood-mercury levels in both populations were essentially the same. However, this analysis did not address a causal role, because we measured mercury after the [autism] diagnosis was made."
"Just as autism is complex, with great variation in severity and presentation, it is highly likely that its causes will be found to be equally complex. It's time to abandon the idea that a single 'smoking gun' will emerge to explain why so many children are developing autism, said Hertz-Picciotto. The evidence to date suggests that, without taking account of both genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, the story will remain incomplete. Few studies, however, are taking this kind of multi-faceted approach."
SOURCE: Environmental Health Perspectives, October 19, 2009
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