Rain, Autism, and Mercury

A new study out of Cornell University says that children growing up in the rainiest or snowiest areas of the country seem to have a higher risk for autism than children living in drier climates.

The authors estimated that removing precipitation as a factor in autism would slice the prevalence of the disorder by 33% to 43%.

Among the possible explanations given were: A lack of vitamin D from a sun-deprived life under the clouds, an increased amount of time spent indoors amid toxic household chemicals, or the presence of dangerous neurotoxins in the precipitation itself, which in turn might trigger a genetic predisposition to ASD.

One of the most omnipresent, growing (and obvious) air-borne neurotoxins in the world to consider, of course, is mercury.

For a number of years, I have questioned whether rising levels of mercury from coal-fired power plants and other sources might be contributing to the overall body burden of heavy metals in pregnant women and infants in North America and elsewhere.

This "background" mercury, combined with mercury from maternal seafood consumption, dental amalgams, the vaccine preservative thimerosal, and other sources, might combine and accumulate in the systems of genetically susceptible infants and fetuses, resulting in autism, I have speculated.

It is not clear how mercury fallout onto land and surface water can cause higher levels of inorganic mercury in the bloodstreams of humans. But a recent study of federal data showed that the percentage of Americans with detectable levels of inorganic mercury in their blood increased eightfold between 2000 and 2004.

These are the same years that we see burgeoning levels of mercury being spewed into the atmosphere from industrializing areas of the world, particularly in China and other Asian countries.

The US Government has detected "mercury plumes" that carry the dangerous neurotoxin in great quantities across the Pacific and, within five days, found them hovering just offshore of San Diego, California. (See Map HERE)

At a recent vaccine forum at Hackensack University Medical Center, in New Jersey, I made this observation, and mentioned that the mercury carried aloft through the atmosphere will come down in the form of rain along the west coast or, during drier periods, continue eastward until it finds wetter, rainier parts of the country, where it is washed to the ground. (Mercury deposition maps HERE and HERE)

The evidence to show that rainy weather leads to increased mercury deposition on the ground is ample. In fact, scientists use rainfall as a measure to estimate mercury deposition in the environment.

One study from the University of Central Florida, showed that 80% of the atmospheric mercury fallout in Florida occurs during the rainy season. In fact, the average amount of mercury deposited on the ground per square meter, per week, was three times higher in the wet season (600 nanograms) than the dry season (200 nanograms).

There is likewise evidence to suggest that higher levels of background mercury are linked to a greater risk of autism. Two peer-reviewed studies from the University of Texas have suggested an increased risk of autism associated with physical proximity to mercury-emitting coal-fired powered plants and other industrial facilities.

A third study, funded by the CDC and published in the NIH journal Environmental Health Perspectives, showed that children born in the most polluted tracts of the San Francisco Bay Area (heavy metals like mercury carried the highest risk) were 50% more likely to develop autism.

"Our results suggest a potential association between autism and estimated metal concentrations in ambient air around the birth residence," concluded the government-sponsored study, (which was essentially ignored by the media).

Suddenly, the "Mercury Rain" hypothesis starts to make a little more sense. Not that coal from China could cause autism directly, but prenatal mercury exposures might make children more susceptible to other environmental triggers, including vaccine ingredients.

Richard Lathe, an autism expert from Pieta Research in Edinburgh, Scotland, told the Washington Post that the new study's findings almost certainly implicate rainfall, at the least.

"Statistical correlations do not necessarily imply causality," he said, but added, "the authors demonstrate, with better than 99 percent certainty, that the correlation is not by chance."

Lathe believes the most likely explanation, "is that rain carries chemicals in the atmosphere to the ground." He said that, "Emissions from manufacturing industries, power plants (ie, coal), and from domestic waste incineration generally rise to the troposphere to be diluted into the large volume of the atmosphere. Precipitation can dump this load back on the land, to be absorbed by plants and animals in the food chain."

And, Lathe noted, "There has been a suggestion that maternal exposure to environmental toxins might contribute to autism in children," he said.

I am not the only one to suggest that ALL mercury exposures - both environmental and vaccine-related - must be taken into account when trying to asses the risk of mercury and autism.

In my book, Evidence of Harm, I noted that Dr. Neal Halsey, director of the Vaccine Safety Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a vaccine authority, said in 1999 that, "Mercury accumulated in women is transferred to their children prenatally and in breast milk." Subsequent exposures from other sources, "including biologic products, (ie, vaccines), are presumed to be additive to their baseline body loads."

And in 2006, a special panel of the NIH wrote that background mercury exposures must be taken into account when assessing the risk of autism and thimerosal.

"Panel members expressed a concern that thimerosal dose, administered through a series of vaccinations, may provide a poor surrogate measure of the cumulative exposure of a child to organic mercurials. Exposures through diet or other environmental sources would not be documented reliably," the NIH panel wrote.

Can rain cause autism? Of course not. But could it pull mercury down from the skies - mercury carried aloft from far away countries across the seas - and affect unborn and newborn children to the point of making them more vulnerable to autistic regression? Perhaps.

This new study makes one thing fairly clear to me: Autism is not a purely genetic disorder. Our changing, endangered, dirty environment is playing a role.

Comments

[Bharbara]

No one will give attention to the health ramifications of these actions. These trucks have been travelling our North American streets and lanes since 1938. The biggest problems have been created over the past forty years. There have been many chemical combinations created in labs during this forty years. When these chemicals get combined in the back of a compactor garbage truck with the repeated compacting we wind up with a whole new and unknown combination of chemicals. This combination of chemicals was not tested in any lab so we have no idea what is being done to the environment and all that live in it.
The combinations of moulds, fungi, parasites, bacteria and viruses that are present in garbage leachate also become part of this toxic fluid mixture. The amount of environmental damage that continues to be done with this release of garbage leachate is staggering. For generations we have been harmed by this environmental health issue. The cumulated affect of this is causing very serious health problems. Children play on their bicycles and tricycles and with the wheels. Babies turn the wheels on their strollers. Many times I have seen this. No one even knows they have been in contact with such toxic substances. Our pets live in this mess and ingest it on a regular basis.
This is part two of this statement.

[Bharbara]

I live in a very rainy city that is on the Pacific Coast of Canada. Since 1991 I have been attempting to stop the release of garbage leachate from compactor garbage trucks as they travel the streets and lanes of our unsuspecting communities. These compactor garbage trucks have been used in North America since 1938 and were not designed to contain fluids. There has been no attention given to what happens with the fluid after it is compacted out of the solid garbage. When garbage leachate is spread all over our streets in wet weather, it mixes with the rain and sloshes and sprays all over everyone and everything. As fluids are not cost effective the garbage leachate many times is drained, from open plugs as the garbage truck driver travels his route. Sometimes the liner inside the truck gets damaged by glass or other sharp objects causing a leak that is allowed to drain all over the streets and lanes as the garbage truck driver travels his route. Fines for releasing garbage leachate in this manner are less than fines for overweight loads. Due to this fact the drivers in many cases will sit and press their loads with the plugs open and drain the garbage leachate right into the sewers or along the street as they travel.
This is part one of this statement.

[woodstock8260]

Sound and Sight
The profuse noises deafen the mind and kill the soul. My heart cries for solitude from the amassing moments that deaden the spirit within. These deepened eyes are blackened through the years of visual desolation that capture every crevice. I wait for my death to be finally free of the visual torment that I might finally sleep in silence.
Sound, sight, taste, smell, and touch, our five senses react to experience life. Our senses intertwine and develop how we behave as humans, how we think, and how we react emotionally. Sound and sight are two vital senses that alter a life forever. Sound and sight have been exploited immensely by marketing and media in society. It has bombarded human senses creating sensory disabilities to a developing fetus through adulthood.
Sound waves affect the fetus during gestation, when sound vibrations pass internally through the womb and alter cellular and neurological development. In addition, as a mother experiences negative and positive emotional sounds and images, her brain will produce chemical responses that affect the developing fetus. Modern society is defined by the increasing sounds and images used to promote products and excite our senses to purchase. There has been a dramatic change to sensory development relating to the metamorphosis of cultural sounds and sights. There is a consistent increase in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, and other sensory learning disabilities known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD).

[Josephius]

This is what happens when scientists look at the study instead of journalists (with books in print on the 'conspiracy'):

http://autismnaturalvariation.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-precipitation-associated-with-autism.html

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=275

[ThinkForYourself2]

Hello Josephius.

Based on your passionate arguments, you seem to be someone who has much to lose with the mercury-autism connection. So what's your crime if you don't mind me asking?

[Josephius]

Crime? Advocating the truth, particularly as it relates to science. You caught me. Guilty as charged!

[arvay]

Check out Josephius' posts -- they're all aimed at making peoples' concerns seem like ignorant ideas, typical of what you'd expect from a corporate type tasked with getting onto a blog and trying to defuse concerns.

Major corporations have execs and pr types who do this on a regular basis, it's a corporate tactic to try to spin things so they don't get investigated.

The UE has already changed the rules so companies have to prove a substance is NOT harmful, rather than the Bush-ite idea that some problem -- like peoples' health harmed -- would have to surface before any action can be taken.

Basically, they don't want any investigations because like the tobacco people, there would be financial consequences once harmful effects are discovered.

So every charge or line of inquiry becomes too, too complex and expensive, we are all just non-professional people who should just shut up and let the chemical and pharma industries just keep going without adequate oversight.

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

Sorry, I'm not going to accept that it's normal for my son to beat his head through the wall or try to do the same to a concrete floor.

And, your second link seems to back up what Mr. Kirby has written : "Therefore, finding a correlation is a way to generate several hypotheses which can then be tested by further observations or research. That, in my opinion, is the best way to view correlational data - as a beginning step to help generate hypothesis. But they should not be used to reach firm conclusions." The study authors suggested as one possible explanation "...the presence of dangerous neurotoxins in the precipitation itself". And Mr. Kirby has pointed out that mercury is one of the neurotoxins found in the air. Sounds like an area for further study.

[Josephius]

There is a difference in establishing a hypothesis and testing it, and eventually, perhaps developing into a viable theory. This is not the case with the mercury militia. Instead, for a number of different reasons (motives), they 'find' evidence that fits with their 'conclusions'. This isn't how it works and why you keep chasing after wild geese.

[Josephius]

"Sorry, I'm not going to accept that it's normal for my son to beat his head through the wall or try to do the same to a concrete floor."

Did I miss something? Who suggested this behavior is normal?

As for the second link, the point is that the quote you provided is right-on. And I'll ask you, what has been Mr. Kirby's career based on? Mercury as the cause of autism (until, as of late where now it's a cause). What he's done, and does regularly, is 'report' on studies that, in some way, justify his standing premise (as clearly articulated in his book, which is available on-line and at bookstores in your area, for a reasonable price). The quote you cited (again) speaks for all epidemiological studies, not just this one. It is a piece, often a starting point. But this is hardly a starting point. This dead horse has been dug up and whipped, whipped, whipped over and over for decades now, with study after study demonstrating 1) that autism has its foundation at the genetic level and 2) the mercury autism hypothesis is extremely weak, at best.

[arvay]

I remember my mother, who was born in the 1920s. telling me that I would never live in an environment as healthy as the one she grew up in. I would never taste real food that she knew as a child.

Mom was right

It's increasingly clear that we have paid a heavy price for our (relative) prosperity and technological advance. The cost, among other things, has been the unprecedented insertion of various chemicals into our environment -- without any understanding of the effects or interrelationships of these chemicals.

To me, this is a far more serious problem than global warming -- we're playing Russian roulette with our body chemistry and genetics.

We need a full-scale research investigation into this chemical pollution, and how it affects our biology. We have no idea now. We desperately need this information.

[foe2Hg]

Sound and wise words.

Please include vaccines into that description of "our environment" and the "effects or interrelationships of these chemicals."

[Josephius]

Yes, please give us some background as to the number of deaths caused from diseases that are no longer around. Also, what was the average life expectancy back then compared to now?

[Josephius]

Oh yes, most important, what was the infant mortality rate then compared to now?

[arvay]

I agree. We need to understand what we're doing to ourselves and our children. We need answers.

[Josephius]

"We need a full-scale research investigation into this chemical pollution, and how it affects our biology. "

What is that supposed to mean? What is a 'full-scale investigation'? What is going to be tested and, especially, how? What are your read outs? Your biomarkers? What are you going to use as a basis to form a conclusion?

[arvay]

It means a well-financed scientific project like the Manhattan project to determine what substances are being released into our environment and what their effects are. It would necessarily be long-term and thorough.

On a much smaller scale, we've learned about various drug interactions. We need to learn about the interactions of industrial chemicals that are loose in the environment.

I'm not impressed by words such as "biomarkers." I am familiar with biological science and can throw in some "insider baseball" terms also, but this is not an ego exercise.

The science exists to track these things, a journalist recently had himself tested for a wide variety of common industrial chemicals and was astonished to see how many are in his system. No one could tell him what their effect and interactions are in his body.

That would be the purpose of the investigation.

Major industries would be required to provide detailed information on the chemicals they use and ALL their research on the results.

Without correct information, we can't act intelligently.

[ThinkForYourself2]

I agree with you 110%. With so much focus on global warming we tend to lose site of the very serious global pollution problem.

[Gatogorra]

Part 2 of two part post:
The main researcher hired by Dow to do some damage control in the Canadian incident was from the University of Rochester, which also took money from the coal-fired power lobby and the fish industry, which had obvious conflicts regarding reports on mercury in fish. This was the same researcher who authored the Seychelle Island child studies on the effects of methylmercury from fish as well as one of the main researchers sent to gather data in the aftermath of the Iraqi grain incident. Not too surprisingly, all the reports generated by this researcher and his teams tend to seriously downplay the extent of damage wrought by mercury and have been continuously used by our government to argue that methylmercury cannot cause autism.

The Canadian "Minimata" dumping must have effected precipitation in the impacted regions and this supports a certain interpretion of this new study, in terms of which areas of the country may have reached the toxic tipping point first, which may have led to increased rates of autism in those areas. Of course, as levels of atmospheric mercury rise and other states were not far behind. Add the mercury from vaccines and some kids wouldn't have a chance to detox from the exascerbated toxic load.

There's no argument that some things are facilitators-- if not causes-- of autism, so perhaps Vitamin D plays a small role within a bigger, uglier picture. Thanks to the author for making the picture clearer.

[Gatogorra]

Part 1 of two part post:
I remember seeing a map depicting the geographical locations of the first marked rise in autism rates in the US. Almost all the states with the biggest rate hikes were on or near the Canadian border. Now I'd like to know how these states connect to Canadian waterways because I think there's a clue here.

Interesting that Canada had its own "Minimata" mercury poisoning epidemic in the 1970's when the toxic, mercury-tainted waste dumping by Dow Chemical Corp and other plants in Canada had driven mercury levels in waterways around the Sasquatuan area to critical levels. The litigation to force cleanup and compensate victims is ongoing. This is all documented in Jane Hightower's "Diagnosis Mercury".

As the story goes, the Ojibway and Cree Indians on the reservations around the dumping sites began suffering from symptoms so similar to the Minimata victims from eating non-commercial fish local fish that several Japanese researchers who'd been active in the Minimata incident came to offer their services to those effected. The Canadian government, after trying to drive the researchers out, refused to accept the data they provided, which argued that the level of poisoning among the Indians was sometimes higher than that found in Minimata and that the effects were virtually the same. As a result of the government spin though, fish advisories in the effected areas and in the "trickle down" areas in the US with connected waterways were short lived, confusing or non-existant.

[Josephius]

It's statements like this:

"Can rain cause autism? Of course not. But could it pull mercury down from the skies - mercury carried aloft from far away countries across the seas - and affect unborn and newborn children to the point of making them more vulnerable to autistic regression? Perhaps."

...that make me cringe. David, what was the conclusion, and only conclusion derived through the research? That there is a correlation between the incidence of autism and precipitation. That's it! No more. Stop. But you can't and go on to derive other conclusions to fit your theory. Why can't we just say that rain causes autism? That IS supported by the study. Instead, you go to mercury, which was not examined, at all, in this study. Why not pick something else out, like TV. TV viewership increases on rainy days, therefore, TV is the cause. Or cell phones. Or soup consumption. It could be anything....and nothing! Stop throwing your mercury BS into the conclusions of studies that have nothing to do with examining mercury! Or better yet, stop trying to pretend you are a scientist or understand the scientific method. You are not very good at it!

[Josephius]

"One of the most omnipresent, growing (and obvious) air-borne neurotoxins in the world to consider, of course, is mercury."

OMG! Here we go again!

David, mercury toxicity (acrodynia) DOES NOT LOOK ANYTHING LIKE AUTISM! When will you ever address that fact?! Since when has it ever been an issue that pediatric physicians, psychiatri­sts/psycho­logist, behavior specialists, and those working in our educational settings mis-diagnose mercury poisoning (chronic or acute, take your pick) and confuse it with the symptoms classified as autism spectrum disorders? It doesn't happen! Why do you completely over look this 'little' detail?

Mercury, as a neurotoxin, affects a variety of tissues, including the kidneys. Do autistic individuals all or mostly all have kidney issues? No. Mercury will impair motor neurons. Autistic individuals do not have motor impairment, certainly nothing like those people who have suffered from mercury poisoning. Those diagnosed with ASD have impairments in social skills, not walking.

Look up the defined clinically accepted symptoms used to diagnosis acrodynia and those for ASD. They are nothing alike. What you are suggesting is the equivalent of a highly explosive bomb (mercury) going off and only damaging the red items in the room. It doesn't make any sense.

[detoxqueen]

Not all people with mercury toxicity have impaired motor skills. Some do. Some don't. It all depends where the mercury decides to settle. My daughter was so mercury-toxic that the chelation doctor wouldn't even do treatments for fear of injuring her kidneys more than they already were. Oddly enough she was the best girl athlete in her class. Her mercury was in the brain area and kidneys, causing severe migraines as well as other mental symptoms.

If you look at the symptoms of MS you will see the exact same symptoms of mercury toxicity but only the physical, not the mental side. Many with MS start walking again once they're chelated.

Many with autism lose their symptoms once they're chelated. Same underlying cause, different symptoms. I'm not saying all autism is caused by mercury but certainly a good percentage of these children are mercury toxic.

When we lived in a rainy climate near some coal-fired power plants in Europe, we would have great improvement of symptoms when we went to a cleaner place on holidays. I really don't see what you're cringing about since this article makes sense.

[LindsE]

First, mercury doesn't "decide" where to settle. Anything introduced into the body is processed in a (mostly) predictable manner. (Which is not to say that the same compound couldn't cause different results in different people.)

Secondly, the most common form of MS is a relapsing-remitting type disease course, which means that many MS patients spontaneously improve with no intervention. So unless you can provide a study demonstrating that chelated MS patients have a statistically significant difference in symptoms, then this argument is completely bogus.

Finally, why is it that people with heavy metal poisoning who are chelated don't "lose their symptoms"? Chelation serves only to remove the metal, not reverse any damage that has been done.

[Josephius]

"Some don't. It all depends where the mercury decides to settle. "

Decides to settle?"I really don't see what you're cringing about since this article makes sense."

It is specious. That's EXACTLY the problem. It is not based on evidence, rather, it is used to construct an explanation.

[dkin]

Mercury in its different forms and exposures results in different manifestations of symptoms. Looking only at acrodynia symptoms (oral/sublingual exposure of inorganic mercury) in comparing symptoms of organic mercury toxicity (ingested or injected) is ignorant of the physiological differences between the two conditions.

Mercury is known to damage the kidneys. The kidneys are where vitamin D active metabolites are formed. More rain/snow usually means less sunlight. If the kidneys of mercury toxic victims are damaged, getting activated vitamin D in physiologically required levels would surely suffer. Vitamin D has been in the news alot lately because research is revealing how important it is to healthy immune, hormonal and detox function. Vitamin D is crucial for glutathione function in the brain. There is significant and compelling research finding low glutathione levels in children suffering from autism. Looking at kidney function and vitamin D metabolism in autism should be undertaken.

[Josephius]

That all sounds nice, but this is the first time I've seen it. You are formulating a 'theory' without providing the evidence of each contributing hypothesis first.

Ask your doctor if they would confuse mercury toxicity and autism.

[foe2Hg]

Is Joseph now Josephius--?

You said-

" mercury toxicity (acrodynia) DOES NOT LOOK ANYTHING LIKE AUTISM!...­..........­.
Autistic individuals do not have motor impairment, certainly nothing like those people who have suffered from mercury poisoning. Those diagnosed with ASD have impairments in social skills, not walking."

You are not correct. Children and teens with autism do indeed have issues with motor planning and execution of them--such as speech, movement (and this would include walking, arm, hand, finger twisting), and would include tics, spasms)----are we talking the same disorder?

Also, acrodynia is not autism. Do you understand the effects of mercury?

[Josephius]

So you're telling us that doctors and specialists get the two confused? You need to examine the process of diagnosis and the disorder descriptions more carefully. They are distinct phenomena.

[sdtech]

A possible connection to the Cornell evaluation of rain data is the fact that rain carries mercury to the water sheds of lakes and streams and then bioaccumulates in fish leading to food contamination. Fish tissue sample data is already available in some states. This is a known contribution of mercury in food. States have mercury advisories for fish. That is a given.

And obviously since you are not ruling out the CDC Thimerosal­/mercury/v­accine evidence both reported in your book and in the CDC June 7, 2000 Simpsonwood transcripts – then mercury from rain is part of the autism equation that includes contributions of mercury injected into the children's bloodstreams plus ingestion of fish by children and pregnant women.

In the meantime if parents are properly warned then they can decide for themselves to protect their children from that part of the autism equation by choosing mercury free vaccines as well as by limiting fish consumption. Thank you David.

[keckie38]

I would be interested to see what or if the whole "sunscreen" obsession has to do with the increase of autism. Pregnant woman as well as babies ( most say to not use on babies less then 6 months)are no longer aloud out in the sun without tons of chemicals being slathered on them. Now, I'm no college graduate but come on. We all need a balance to stay healthy. With "moms to be" they should be sure they are getting the vitamins they can from their diet and lifestyle. The sun has been made to be the ememy, I believe in moderation (without the chemicals) it is our friend.

[typicalpol]

this at a time when the Bush admin wants to relax regulations on the industry

[dgaylord]

Has anyone studied the levels of mercury and other toxic substances in soy formula? Where is the soy in formula farmed? Here in the US or in China? I have ggb triplets and only my son has autism. Although everything about the children's environment and parental influence is the same, my son was given soy formula.

[detoxqueen]

Soy is not good for boys because it messes with the testosterone. Google it. Small amounts of soy may show some benefits for older women but not for babies or children. In countries that are quoted to eat a lot of soy and enjoy health it's conveniently left out that the soy is fermented and used in very small quantities. It's never the main course!

[dkin]

I too had triplets (BBG) but it is my daughter that regressed into autism. She was the only baby on soy formula. Soy is high in oxalates. There again, kidney function is implicated. There is ongoing research that is looking at body burden of oxalates (endogenously produced and/or through dietary consumption) and inability to excrete mercury through normal detoxification means.

Thank you David for your perseverance in discerning and reporting honest science.

[CamJam]

Very interesting - thank you David.

We live in Portland, Oregon and I was born and raised here. I was also here when Mt Saint Helen's sent her ash over our way back in 1980. But I still don't understand why one of our 5 yr old twin boys has Autism, and the other does not. My older daughter from previous marriage also born and raised here does not have Autism. But then again, my daughter only received about 9 shots by the time she hit 5 years old. The twins received 35 shots by the time they hit 4 years old.

[amdachel]

Here David Kirby addresses the latest findings about rain and the incidence of autism. While others are saying that there is little to explain why kids in rain prone areas would be more likely to have autism, David points to the facts that should have everyone very worried.
For members of the press covering this issue, it's time to stop the head-scratching over the "mystery of autism" and seriously and thoroughly report on the crisis of chronic illness and neurological disorders affecting more and more of our children.
Anne Dachel
Media editor
Age of Autism