Mercurys Rising in Nature Medicine
August 3, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Mercury rising: Parents of autistic children are mounting a vicious campaign against scientists who refute the link between vaccines and autism is an article in the August 1st Nature Medicine. Writer Virginia Hughes “takes the temperature of the escalating debate”—and finds things have risen to, indeed, a fever pitch as those who are “against mercury” and specifically, “against mercury” in the form of thimerasol in vaccines, and who (like the Moms Against Mercury) protest against those they see as the arch-enemy:
(1) Scientists like Paul Offit, Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), who has been referred to as a “devil” and a “TERRORIST” and received a death threat and emails containing the names of his children and of their school.
(2) Bloggers like Kevin Leitch, Orac, and others who write about “autism related quackery.”
(3) Those who state that there is no epidemic of autism and that we need to look much more carefully at how the diagnostic criteria for autism have changed (as noted by Roy Richard Grinker in Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism) and, too, at how the criteria for special education have changed (as noted by Paul Shattuck). I have received some quite tartly worded comments and emails, though neither as many nor as full of vitriol as others have. When I read these comments and emails, my thought is that there is such anger, frustration, and vilification screaming from each word because of a deep, deep grieving—-rage—-on behalf of a child who, it is believed, has become autistic due to something other than genetics.
People certainly know how to not mince words: I have been informed that I am doing harm to children “poisoned” by mercury. When I write a post about mercury or vaccines, it seems that, inevitably, phrases like the following will be put into service, phrases that partake of a kind of know-nothingness thinking: Mercury is a “known neurotoxin”; how can we inject it “knowingly” into innocent children; have I looked at “the science”; one day “the truth” will come out as “everyone knows”; we had better do something soon or bankrupt the future of our children and our society with the “tsunami/tidal wave/visible horde” of “full symptom autistic children” who will be such a “burden” upon society.
As I think you can tell by now, though I am a mom, I am not a “MAM” or a Mercury. I think we have to stop belittling the “better diagnosis” argument and take a hard look at ourselves and, along with consideration of all the other research into autism aetiology (genetics, environment, both, more), see how much autism there is and even has been already around us, or maybe not around us—not if so many previous generations of adults diagnosed with mental retardation and intellectual disabilities were institutionalized.
And, last: My own mother reads every single word on this site, from the latest about Charlie to the not always nice sentiments in the comments. Not that you should not write such if that is how you feel about something I’ve written.
I thought I’d let you know, Mom is reading.
The Nature Medicine article is available by subscription only and I have included some excerpts below.
Go here for the full text of Mercury Rising.
In June 2006, on the first day of the summer meeting of the AdvisoryCommittee on Immunization Practices, more than 100 protesters crowded the sidewalks outside the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
Organized by a nonprofit called Moms Against Mercury, the mob was made up mostly of people who believe that thimerosal-a mercury-based vaccine
preservative-is responsible for the dramatic rise in autism over the past two decades.…
Moms against Mercury and other such groups say that autism is triggered by the routine vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), by the preservative thimerosal, or a combination of the two. Dozens of peer-reviewed studies and scientific panels have dismissed these links, but, galvanized by a high-profile claims trial, congressional support and a buzzing online network, this movement-informally dubbed ‘the Mercurys’-has only become more organized. The movement’s rising visibility, public health experts warn, might spur lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers and ultimately lower national immunization rates.
…
Offit has been a prime target of these groups for years. In 1996, after he published his first book on vaccines, he received a few negative emails and letters. But by 1999, when the controversy over thimerosal reached its peak, the harassment had “entered a darker place,” he says.
He has since received hundreds of malicious and threatening emails, letters and phone calls accusing him of poisoning children and “selling out” to pharmaceutical companies. One phone caller listed the names of Offit’s two young children and the name of their school. One email contained a death threat-”I will hang you by your neck until you’re dead”-that Offit reported to federal investigators. And he is just one of the many scientists who refute the vaccine-autism link to endure this harassment.
………………………….
In 2004, following four years of interviews with experts and review of more than 200 scientific studies, the US Institute of Medicine dismissed any link between autism and vaccines.
The Mercurys dismiss these and other reports and argue that the only way to settle the dispute is to compare the rates of autism between vaccinated and unvaccinated children.
To that end, a nonprofit group called Generation Rescue commissioned a $200,000 telephone survey of 17,000 children in California and Oregon. Results of the survey, released on 26 June, suggested that boys who have been immunized-with any vaccine-have a 155% greater chance of developing a neurological disorder such as autism than boys who are unvaccinated.
…
Both the results and the methods of the poll are controversial, however. The pollers asked parents if their children had been vaccinated, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, without defining what the term ‘partially vaccinated’ meant, or noting what specifically the children had been immunized against or when. Generation Rescue did not release analyses of statistical significance, and because the poll did not report how many people refused to take the survey, the results may have selection bias. A Generation Rescue spokesperson did not return calls made for this article.
………………….
Anesthesiologist Jim Laidler, who a few years ago was “neck-deep” in alternative autism therapy for his two autistic children, has since turned to mainstream scientists’ side. In 2005, after publishing a statistical paper in Pediatrics that rebuffed the idea of an autism ‘epidemic’, he received about 30 emails and a dozen hostile phone calls from the Mercurys, one of which he reported to the police.
“This stuff is frighteningly violent,” Laidler says. “With the Omnibus trial looking like [the Cedillos] are going to go down in flames, I would be appalled, but not surprised, to hear that some act of violence was carried out.”
Kristina 的 母親 好 嗎?
我 有 一個 問題.
請問, 我 要 煲 中餐 臘腸 (玫 酒 flavor). 我 不 知道 怎樣 煲 這個.
對不起, 我的 中文 很不好.
(What does one do with rose wine flavored sausage?)
We have some newbies at the therapy office, and it is frightening how many of them are in the Mercury camp- how fast the misinformation spreads and takes hold, and how virulent they are about those of us who have kids born with autism. Discovering your child has autism is life-changing for the parent, and we do our best to be supportive while trying to get them appropriate resources for helping their child- and themselves. It’s never easy.
It is never easy to find out that there is something that will make life more difficult for your child. I know that it seemed that Rebekah developed the autism around 19 months although when I think back to her when she was a newborn I realize that there were things then hat were different than my other two. She prefered to sleep in her bouncy seat when it was vibrating. She also was not as easily consoled by us picking her up. I do know that she is high functioning and to some that means that she is not really autistic. If I had a penny everytime a parent told me that, well we would have no problem paying for any service she may need. I also believe that 10 or 15 years ago she would not have been diagnosed as autistic. the schools would have consdered her learning disabled, put her in a regular classroom and punished the behavior while supplying her with limited support services. Society would have said she was strange and that would have been it. I feel we are very fortunate to be in a time where she can recieve all of the services through the school that she needs and to understand that her meltdowns are not tantrums. I would love for everyone in the autism community to accept each other even with their differing opinions. I do not believe that mercury, thermisol, or vaccines cause autism but I respect someone elses right to believe that. Only time and cience will tell. As always I am thankful for this forum when I can read become more educated and vent when needed.
我 的 母親 好 好, xie3 xie3 ni3 a!
我的 中文 ye3 很不好!
中餐 臘腸, nian2 fan4 gen3 zhe4 ge [sticky rice], 很 好 !
Thanks again for the civility and good writing you always display on this blog (and no, I’m not just saying that b/c your mother is reading).
I have a lot of frustration when I read a list I belong to that has been overrun with the mercury crowd. New parents joining the list are encouraged to go the chelation route, and people are taking out loans to pay for all kinds of procedures. I confess I’ve somewhat given up reading or commenting b/c the discussion is such an example of groupthink.
謝謝, 謝謝.
Loans—-and I’ve been reading about some of the side- or after- or just plain effects of various treatments, from supplements to HBOT, and about parents giving supplements (for “natural chelation”) without consulting a professional.
My mom did email me about this post….. Hope I can keep up the right tone—-readers like all of you make it easy.
Julie, I used to think that Charlie would have “of course” and “obviously” been diagnosed with autism in previous generations. But I am no longer so sure of this: I think he may have received a diagnosis of MR and emotional/behavioral disorder. Every day I see more of me in him (and of Jim, too), and of him in both of us: He’s our boy, that’s for sure.
Joeymom, one wonders if there’s been too much exposure and attention given to theories about mercury etc.—a misinformation campaign, intentional or not.
Hello, I was wondering if the mercury might be coming from fish:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/effects.asp
http://www.fisheries.ifcnr.com/article.cfm?NewsID=410
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/11/05/MN93684.DTL
I am not in the “mercury camp”. I have never subscribed to the thimerosal/vaccine link theories. On local autism newsgroups I have in the past been subjected to hostile commentary for questioning or criticizing these theories. Nor, however, do I subscribed to the simplistic “expanded definition, better diagnosis” explains it all theories usually offered by the Neurodiversity Camp.
The viciousness you refer to on the part of those you deride as being in the mercury camp is not unique to them. There are those who criticize the so called mercury camp in equally vicious terms including some of the names you mention.
The truth is you are solidly in the Neurodiversity Camp and your views reflect the ideology of that perspective. That is your privilege and right but your comments are not a balanced summary of the viciousness which marks the ideological rants of either the Mercury Camp or the Neurodiversity Camp. Your views are simply one side, the Neurodiversity side, of that “war”, a war which many parents of autistic children outside both “camps”, reject as unfortunate and unnecessary.
By the way my references to “wars” and “camps” are provided in response to your use of war like imagery in your comments.
I rather suspect “MOM” might echo my sentiments.
Thanks for keeping me up to date, Harold!
I feel just like Emily and Joeymom. The mercury hypothesis and the biomed-driven group is growing exponentially, and I believe the fact that most autism associations approve of DAN doctors help new parents think they are legit. The simple explanations offered by the biomed crowd are easy to understand and lead people to believe the child can be cured by a simple diet or by some $$$DAN$$$ treatment.
“Nor, however, do I subscribed to the simplistic “expanded definition, better diagnosis” explains it all theories usually offered by the Neurodiversity Camp.”
Harold, how is it simplistic? The fact that people don’t generally grasp it, and use phrases such as “better diagnosis” to describe it, is actually evidence that it isn’t simplistic.
“There are those who criticize the so called mercury camp in equally vicious terms including some of the names you mention.”
I doubt the mercury camp receives death threats. Don’t attempt to assign equivalence where there obviously isn’t one.
To follow up on Joseph’s and Leila’s points: If one really considers all the arguments for the “expanded definition, better diagnosis” theory, one will see that they are far from simplistic; those who refute them return again and again to “know-nothing” statements (like “it can’t just be better diagnosis, there is a real increase). DAN! practitioners (as I know from personal experience and continued reading of their books, websites, and other materials) offer what appear to be straightforward and relatively fast solutions, in contrast to the long, slow, and hard work of education.
Some of the harshest, and cruelest, vilification that I have read has been directed towards those who say that increases in autism are due to “better diagnosis.”
For myself, bring it on.
“The viciousness you refer to on the part of those you deride as being in the mercury camp is not unique to them. There are those who criticize the so called mercury camp in equally vicious terms including some of the names you mention.”
Would you like to post some references to comments where ‘those names’ mentioned have offered threats against children? Or threats of violence? Because thats what the anti-vaccine brigade do. In fact, when Brad Handley of Generation Rescue made a threat of physical violence to me you lauded him for speaking his mind.
You Harold, are a painfully obvious hypocrite who sees his own blog and other peoples comment sections as a chance to play politics.
Harold,
I’m left wondering why you seem so threatened by the idea of better diagnosis or the possibility that we aren’t in the midst of an autism epidemic?
Is it that you are so certain some external force or agent is responsible that you feel it necessary to have an explosion of new autism cases to support this idea or does it have more to do with making others aware of your plight and lack of services?
I also wonder how you arrived at your ideas concerning neurodiversity and some of the bloggers who support the concept.
I’ve read where you’ve said things like “There are those who criticize the so called mercury camp in equally vicious terms including some of the names you mention.”
but I’ve yet to see you provide specific examples.
To Joseph, Kev, and NotMercury – hohum, same old stuff from you guys. You gang up on people who don\’t share your opinion.
Stop asking for examples and go reread your blogs.
To Joseph,Kev, notmercury:
Boring. Same old thing you always do – gang up when someone doesn\’t share your opinion.
Stop asking for examples and go reread your own blogs.
It is not a broadening of diagnostic criteria, it a vastly expanded definition and would include any introverted kid who may be perfectly normal. Here is an excellent description in Medscape on how the criteria changed and how the entire ‘autism epidemic’ can be explained.
Medscape: What are the significant changes in diagnostic criteria for autism between 1980 and 1994?
Dr. Gernsbacher: Whereas the 1980 DSM-III entry required satisfying six mandatory criteria, the more recent 1994 DSM-IV offers 16 optional criteria, only half of which need to be met. Moreover, the severe phrasing of the 1980 mandatory criteria contrasts with the more inclusive phrasing of the 1994 optional criteria. For instance, to qualify for a diagnosis according to the 1980 criteria, an individual needed to exhibit ”a pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people.” In contrast, according to 1994 criteria, an individual must demonstrate only ”a lack of spontaneous seeking to share…. achievements with other people” and peer relationships less sophisticated than would be predicted by the individual’s developmental level. The 1980 mandatory criteria of ”gross deficits in language development” and ”if speech is present, peculiar speech patterns such as immediate and delayed echolalia, metaphorical language, pronominal reversal” were replaced by the 1994 options of difficulty ‘’sustain[ing] a conversation” or ”lack of varied …social imitative play.” ”Bizarre responses to various aspects of the environment” became ”persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.”
Mr. (Ms.) Toxic, Your comment could be made regarding many websites, blogs, etc. that argue for a link between mercury, vaccines, etc., and autism.
Toxic – hohum, same old stuff from you guys, asked to provide evidence for your statements and never can.
Here’s a little incentive for you Toxic. If you can find me threatening to hurt the kids of people I disagree with or making death threats then I promise I will not only eat my own shoes, I will video myself doing it and post it on YouTube.