Mercury Poisoning - the symptoms

Testimony to the House Government Reform Committee by Sallie Bernard

Anyone familiar with the signs of mercury toxicity in children will recognize language difficulties and ADHD traits as common features. But in fact, research conducted by me and others, and summarized in our paper, "Autism - a Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning" (June 2000), has shown that the symptoms which are diagnostic of or strongly associated with autism itself are found to arise from mercury exposure, as described in available literature on past cases of mercury poisoning. This research strongly suggests that mercury, primarily from thimerosal in vaccines, may be a contributing factor in many cases of autism.

The similarities between features of autism and mercury poisoning, which in both disorders vary considerably by individual, include:

(a)    on the behavior side, social withdrawal; lack of eye contact, facial expression, and desire to share enjoyment with others; perseverative, obsessive, and compulsive behaviors; speech delay; loss of or impairment in language and conversational abilities; repetitive motor mannerisms such as hand or finger flapping; sensory disturbances like over or under sensitivity to sound, light, or touch; movement disorders; attentional deficits, hyperactivity; lower verbal than performance IQ; difficulties understanding abstract ideas; poor short term memory; head banging, sleep difficulties, and staring spells.

(b)  on the physiological side, damage to in selective brain areas including the Purkinje and granule cells, amygdala, hippocampus, and basal ganglia; abnormal brain neuronal organization; altered dopamine levels; decreased brain serotonin; elevated norepinephrine, epinephrine, and glutamate; cortical acetylcholine deficiency and increased muscarinic receptor density in hippocampus; an immune system shifted towards allergy and less effective in fighting viruses and yeast, with loss of ability to recognize the body’s own brain tissue and antibodies made against parts of the central nervous system; altered purine and pyrimidine metabolism; brain mitochondrial dysfunction; and EEG abnormalities from subtle, low amplitude activity to epilepsy; abnormal vestibular nystagmus responses; chronic gastrointestinal difficulties; and autonomic system disturbances such as poor circulation and elevated heart rate.

(c)    on the population side, a higher propensity for males to be affected than females; and the presence of a strong genetic component, with autism being one of the most heritable disorders and mercury sensitivity also being in large part genetically determined.

There are many other similarities which cannot be covered in the interest of time.

National alert: A warning about continuing patterns of metallic mercury exposure

Metallic mercury is a hazardous chemical that can cause serious health problems. Children (especially very young children) and fetuses are most vulnerable. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), part of the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are jointly issuing an alert to the general public. There is a continuing pattern of metallic mercury exposure in children and teenagers and in persons using certain folk medicines or participating in certain ethnic or religious practices.

It is important for the general public to understand that either short-term or long-term exposures to metallic mercury can lead to serious health problems. Human exposure to metallic mercury occurs primarily from breathing contaminated air. Other forms of mercury can be absorbed by drinking contaminated water, eating food (usually fish containing mercury), and from skin contact. At high levels, metallic mercury can cause effects on the nervous system and the developing fetus. Other forms of mercury can damage other organs. Even at low levels, metallic mercury can cause health problems. Metallic mercury exposure can cause harm before symptoms arise. Once released into the environment, mercury is very hard to clear up. If it is left unattended where exposures can occur, it can have dangerous effects on human health.

Frequently asked questions about mercury fever thermometers - EPA

Mercury is a toxic substance that can harm both humans and wildlife. Many different products, including thermometers, contain mercury. When these products break, the mercury can evaporate, creating a risk of dangerous exposures to mercury vapor in indoor air. Moreover, mercury that volatilizes when products break in the home or in the waste disposal system enters the environment and can be deposited in lakes and rivers, where it can be transformed into highly toxic methylmercury. Very small amounts of mercury can do significant damage. One gram of mercury per year is enough to contaminate all the fish in a lake with surface area of 20 acres.

Methylmercury accumulates in the food chain, so that a very small amount of mercury in a lake can lead to dangerous levels of methylmercury in fish. People who consume large amounts of fish are at risk of adverse effects of methylmercury on the nervous system. Because the developing nervous system is vulnerable to mercury toxicity, fetuses exposed to methylmercury through their mother's consumption of fish are particularly at risk of adverse effects. Mercury is the most frequent basis for advisories about the potential dangers of consuming fish, represented in 60 percent of all water bodies with fish consumption advisories. Forty states have advisories for mercury in one or more water bodies, and eleven states have issued statewide mercury advisories.

Mercury thermometers and your family's health

Mercury affects the human brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver. It affects the ability to feel, see, taste and move. It can cause tingling sensations in the fingers and toes, a numb sensation around the mouth and tunnel vision. Long term exposure to mercury can result in symptoms that get progressively worse and lead to personality changes, stupor and coma.

The Commercialization of Childhood Vaccination: A Doctor's Opinion

The known clinical effects of exposure to minute amounts of mercury include the well-documented signs and symptoms of immune disruption, numerous neuro-psychiatric disorders and symptoms and signs of autism. At the very least, exposure to mercury that can begin before birth if the mother has dental amalgam fillings, and is continued with mercury in her breast milk and in the vaccines, can result in an irritable, colicky baby with a poor sleep pattern and a significantly (and unrecognized) impaired immunity. The latter decreases the infant's resistance to viral or bacterial infections and increases the chances of antibiotics and subsequent destruction of essential gut bacteria. The gut is then colonized by mutant mercury and antibiotic resistant micro-organisms with further health implications.