Replied By Tanya (Phoenix, AZ) on 06/09/2008
Although some children with autism may have high levels of merucry no such thing has ever been proven. Even more importantly, my own children have autism and neither one of them had a shot with mercury in it. For them, it is clearly genetic as their father and his father are clearly on the spectrum. In addition, we have tried all of the diets, supplements ect and found no help. Therapies helped. I believe there are "autisms" just like there are "cancers." They may have features in common (think lung cancer vs. skin cancer)but the treatments and outcomes can be totally different. So children with autism need to be looked at individually and not as a cohesive group.Replied By Sheila (San Diego, Ca, Usa) on 06/04/2011
Mercury poisoning can happen through environmental exposure, like a broken thermometer, or by occupation, or by the merthiolate (aka thimerasol) or mercurichrome that my mom used to rub into my scrapes and cuts (in the 70s), and then some of my accumulation traveling through the womb to my child.
I do believe--from the reading I've done--that genetics or a genetic disposition does play a good part in ASD, but I can't disregard heavy metal poisoning as a plausible cause where my son's symptoms are concerned.
