From: NANCALE aol com 
Date: 10/25/2005 8:59:31:PM
Subject:  The Age of Autism Mercury Goes To Work
The Age of Autism: Mercury Goes To Work

By Dan Olmsted for UPI. tinyurl.com/77amj

Throughout the 1920s a scientist named Morris Kharasch filed a blizzard of applications with the U.S. Patent Office.

In 1924: "The present invention relates to the production of water soluble organo-metallic compounds ... including mercury. ... This invention is of particular importance in connection with the organic compounds having germicidal or therapeutic value." In 1926: "This invention relates to the treatment of infections of soil, and more particularly to the use of mercury and other compounds in conjunction with a fertilizer and its application to the infected soil." Kharasch, who died in 1957, is widely known for work reflected in that 1924 patent: the creation of thimerosal, the ethyl-mercury-based preservative used in a wide range of medical products including vaccines. It allowed for multidose vials and mass vaccination. Less recognized is his invention of similar ethyl-mercury applications for fungicides, reflected in that 1926 patent for "the treatment of infections of soil." Until now, a possible link between ethyl mercury and autism has focused on vaccines. But what about fungicides? In the last column we outlined a new theory by Mark Blaxill, research chair of the advocacy group SafeMinds. Blaxill's theory is simple: The possibility of fungicide exposure connects some of the first 11 cases diagnosed by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner. The most striking: Case 2, the son of a plant pathologist, and Case 3, the son of a forestry professor at a southern university. Case 1, Donald T., grew up in a small Mississippi town surrounded by land that was being heavily planted with tree seedlings by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The idea that ethyl mercury -- in vaccines or anything else -- causes autism is hotly debated. The notion has been firmly rejected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies of Science. (In 1999 manufacturers were asked to phase out thimerosal in routine childhood vaccines; fungicides no longer use mercury.) No one doubts, however, that ethyl mercury is a potent neurotoxin especially dangerous to the developing brains of infants. The question: Did "domesticating" it inadvertently trigger the age of autism? "What's fascinating is if you look at the natural history of autism and ethyl mercury, there's a pretty interesting coincidence in time and place," said SafeMinds' Blaxill. + Full report here: tinyurl.com/77amj