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Author Topic:   Childhood Vaccinations – Necessary or Overkill? Sequal Thread
Kitsune
Member (Idle past 4300 days)
Posts: 788
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 09-16-2007


Message 31 of 308 (427745)
10-12-2007 4:49 PM
Reply to: Message 30 by molbiogirl
10-12-2007 4:28 PM


Re: Blaylock
There is no evidence of a creationist or anti-global warming agenda in any of his papers. It's quite possible that he disagrees with these things; or, if he believes them privately for whatever reason, there is absolutely no publicity of them.
He is outspoken against MSG particularly and also vaccinations. I've read many things he's written, many interviews. You'd expect a nutcase to slip in some of their ideas here and there. Not a single sign of, "Oh, and by the way, if people would just stop telling lies about global warming . . . " etc. I've spoken to paranoid nutcases. They can't help pushing their agendas.
This interview sums up a few of Blaylock's ideas quite well.
Edited by LindaLou, : No reason given.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 30 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 4:28 PM molbiogirl has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 32 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 5:03 PM Kitsune has replied
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molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 32 of 308 (427747)
10-12-2007 5:03 PM
Reply to: Message 31 by Kitsune
10-12-2007 4:49 PM


Re: Blaylock
He is outspoken against MSG...
Uh-huh.
And coined his own nifty little word, "excitotoxins". Kinda trips off the tongue, doesn't it?
Neuropharmacology as a Long-Range Strategic War Policy
Russell L. Blaylock, MD
Page not found - Hacienda Publishing
I predict the widespread use of these drugs, many of which increase free radical generation and elicit excitotoxic reactions in the brain, will lead to a society filled with young people crippled by neurodegenerative diseases. They will be unable to work, think clearly, and will essentially become wards of the state, exactly what the Soviets wanted . a nefarious program created in the former Soviet Union that exceeds even the far-reaching imaginations of Hollywood writers . was designed to destroy a civilization for many generations to come; to create chaos, disease epidemics, violence, broken homes, ruined lives, and the eventual collapse of freedom itself . The old Soviet intelligence services have joined forces with the Russian Mafia in a quest to dominate the world economically and politically. ... Lenin recognized early on that Ivan Pavlov's research on conditioning held the secret to the eventual success of the communist system over the capitalist world. Toward the end of his life, Pavlov was "invited" to the Kremlin by Lenin and was told to write a summary of his life's work, especially tailored for use in humans. Lenin carefully analyzed the completed manuscript, some four hundred pages. Afterwards, he told Pavlov he had "saved the Revolution" and that his work had secured the world for communism. Lenin knew that communism (collectivism) demanded the control of the human mind, in essence, the creation of the new "Soviet man." In this paper, Pavlov dealt with the common human reaction to shocking information, in which people respond, "I don't believe it." He called this reaction "conditioned inhibition."
Edward Hunter, in his book Brainwashing: From Pavlov to Powers, states the longer this process of "conditioned inhibition" goes undetected, the more difficult it will be to recognize and counteract.(30) A neuropsychiatrist has referred to this as a national neurosis, primarily characterized as a loss of indignation over shocking national events. Those few alert to the problem speak of national apathy.
We have seen that documented evidence and direct eyewitness testimony has unveiled a nefarious program created in the former Soviet Union that exceeds even the far-reaching imaginations of Hollywood writers. It was a program that was designed to destroy a civilization for many generations to come; to create chaos, disease epidemics, violence, broken homes, ruined lives, and the eventual collapse of freedom itself.
Because of government and media unwillingness to expose this plot early on, most are now convinced that the drug problem in our world arose as a matter of natural social decay, and that no solution is in sight. As a result, whole countries are now falling to the drug lords and their handlers. Colombia has become the first narco-state. Mexico may not be far behind. Many of our cities are now helpless before the drug bosses and their henchmen. Illegal immigrants pour across our borders, many of whom are drug dealers and crime bosses. Not surprisingly, after spending billions on a war on drugs, officials are admitting defeat. We have, for the first time in our nation's history, been defeated by a foreign enemy on our own soil.
Yes. That sounds ... reasonable.
Edited by molbiogirl, : link info

This message is a reply to:
 Message 31 by Kitsune, posted 10-12-2007 4:49 PM Kitsune has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 34 by Kitsune, posted 10-12-2007 5:25 PM molbiogirl has replied

molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 33 of 308 (427751)
10-12-2007 5:24 PM
Reply to: Message 31 by Kitsune
10-12-2007 4:49 PM


Re: Blaylock
Here's a couple snippets from the latest issue of the AAPS "journal":
The Breast Cancer Epidemic: Modeling and Forecasts Based on Abortion and Other Risk Factors
Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ... A review of the research literature concerning the environmental consequences of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to the conclusion that increases during the 20th and early 21st centuries have produced no deleterious effects upon Earth’s weather and climate.
Those are the only 2 articles in the latest issue. The rest is Commentaries and Editorials.
I'd also like to note that this "journal" is 20 pages long.
I'd also like to note the Baylock has been an editor of this "journal" for over 10 years. That's an awfully long time to serve as an editor of a "journal" whose positions you don't support.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 31 by Kitsune, posted 10-12-2007 4:49 PM Kitsune has not replied

Kitsune
Member (Idle past 4300 days)
Posts: 788
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 09-16-2007


Message 34 of 308 (427752)
10-12-2007 5:25 PM
Reply to: Message 32 by molbiogirl
10-12-2007 5:03 PM


Re: Blaylock
OK, point being-? How does this have any bearing on his research in nutrition and vaccination?
What he's saying is politically loaded yes, and as a liberal I'm sure I'd disagree with him on many points. But there may be some truth in it too. Shit happens and sometimes no one knows about it.
Donald Ewen Cameron, from Wikipedia. Second President of the World Psychiatric Association. President of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. You'd think the only place you'd read about something like this would be in a bestseller, or in the ravings of a conspiracy theorist. However, it is fact.
Donald Ewen Cameron (1901-1967) was a Scottish-American psychiatrist. Born in Bridge of Allan, he graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1924.
Cameron lived and worked in Albany, New York, and was involved in experiments in Canada for Project MKULTRA, a United States based CIA-directed "mind control" program which eventually lead to the publication of the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual.
Cameron was the author of the psychic driving concept which the CIA found particularly interesting. In it he described his theory on correcting madness, which consisted of erasing existing memories and rebuilding the psyche completely. After being recruited by the CIA, he commuted to Montreal every week to work at the Allan Memorial Institute of the McGill University, and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 to carry out MKULTRA experiments there. The CIA appears to have given him the potentially deadly experiments to carry out (on Native Aboriginal children in "Indian Residental School Death Camps"), as they would be tried on non-US citizens. However, documents released in 1977 revealed that thousands of unwitting, as well as voluntary subjects were tested on during that time period. These subjects included United States citizens.
In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs, as well as electroconvulsive therapy at 30 to 40 times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced coma for months on end (up to three in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were typically carried out on patients who had entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and post-partum depression, many of whom suffered permanently from his actions.
It was during this era that Cameron became known worldwide, serving as the second President of the World Psychiatric Association, as well as president of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. He was also a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal a decade earlier, where he accused German medics of things he himself did between 1934 - 1960 or later, though his scientific work during World War II for the OSS has never been a secret.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 32 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 5:03 PM molbiogirl has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 35 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 5:35 PM Kitsune has replied

molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 35 of 308 (427753)
10-12-2007 5:35 PM
Reply to: Message 34 by Kitsune
10-12-2007 5:25 PM


Completely irrelevant
Your response has nothing to do whatsoever with Baylock's assertions that the Soviet Union has infiltrated this country in order to disable its youth:
a nefarious program created in the former Soviet Union that exceeds even the far-reaching imaginations of Hollywood writers . was designed to destroy a civilization for many generations to come; to create chaos, disease epidemics, violence, broken homes, ruined lives, and the eventual collapse of freedom itself . The old Soviet intelligence services have joined forces with the Russian Mafia in a quest to dominate the world economically and politically.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 34 by Kitsune, posted 10-12-2007 5:25 PM Kitsune has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 36 by Kitsune, posted 10-12-2007 5:51 PM molbiogirl has replied

Kitsune
Member (Idle past 4300 days)
Posts: 788
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 09-16-2007


Message 36 of 308 (427756)
10-12-2007 5:51 PM
Reply to: Message 35 by molbiogirl
10-12-2007 5:35 PM


Re: Completely irrelevant
Look, I can't comment on this. And this in itself is irrelevant to the well written, thought provoking article which I referred PurpleDawn to.
As a parallel, I have a great deal of criticism to aim at the field of psychiatry as it is practiced today. So do scientologists. Our motivations are different; in their case, they've inherited their ex-leader's paranoia of shrinks stemming from his own questionable state of mind. And I'm not about to go join their cult. However, this does not invalidate the good work they've done to expose the inhumane practices of the profession.
Likewise, Blaylock may hold some questionable beliefs, I agree. But I do not see them creeping into his more mainstream studies. Science is science regardless of the scientist. You probably wouldn't call what he does science, but you put people like Linus Pauling on the same rubbish heap.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 35 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 5:35 PM molbiogirl has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 37 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 6:29 PM Kitsune has not replied
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molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 37 of 308 (427757)
10-12-2007 6:29 PM
Reply to: Message 36 by Kitsune
10-12-2007 5:51 PM


Re: Completely irrelevant
But I do not see them creeping into his more mainstream studies.
Publishing in JANA and the AAPS is hardly mainstream, LL.
.005% = mainstream?
btw.
I just found Mark Geier published in the AAPS journal too.
Page not found - AAPS | Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
Birds of a feather.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 36 by Kitsune, posted 10-12-2007 5:51 PM Kitsune has not replied

molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 38 of 308 (427758)
10-12-2007 6:47 PM
Reply to: Message 36 by Kitsune
10-12-2007 5:51 PM


Mainstream? Blaylock interview ...
http://www.newstarget.com/020550.html
Mike: Wasn't there some research that came out recently that supports all this by establishing a correlation between leukemia and aspartame?
Dr. Blaylock: Yes. This Italian study was very well done.
There is no such study on Pubmed.
Dr. Blaylock: Donald Rumsfeld was the one who pushed a lot of this through, when he was in the chairmanship of the G.D. Searle company, NutraSweet. He got it approved through the regulatory process, but once it was approved, the government didn't want to admit that they had made a mistake. They just continued to cover it up, like the fluoride thing and the milk industry.
You're not going to criticize milk in the media, because they are smart enough to advertise in newspapers, magazines, health magazines and journals. They have all the media outlets covered. The only place that they don't have covered is talk radio and the internet. The health blogs can tell the truth.
Ooo. Yes. Evil, evil milk.
Mike: Have you taken a lot of heat from NutraSweet or any of these other companies? I mean, have you been threatened with lawsuits or anything for going public with this information?
Dr. Blaylock: No, they leave me alone. I know too much. They've never bothered me. When I wrote the book, George Schwartz warned me, "Are you sure you want to write this book? If you do, they're just going to hound you to death." I said, "Yes, I want to write the book." So, I wrote it with one thing in mind: that they would not be able to refute it.
I researched every kind of way you can research and proved the toxicity of glutamate. They know I know that, because I had exchanged this in writing letters to some of their biggest defenders. They all realized that they couldn't answer my arguments. So they leave me alone. They're afraid that if it comes to a big standoff between me and them, they're going to lose.
"I am ignored, therefore I am important."
The editor-in-chief of The Chemical News went through that with fluoride. They fired him because he refused to be quiet about fluoride toxicity, and they had just received this huge grant from Colgate-Palmolive. They said, "We'll lose our grant if you don't get quiet about fluoride." He wouldn't, and they fired him. Researchers know this.
There is no such journal.
---
I searched all the references in this interview that had enough info to plug into Pubmed.
For example:
Dr. Blaylock: There's really not a lot of research in those areas. They have some basic research, like with Splenda, showing thalamus suppression. If that holds up in other research, it's a major concern. If you're suppressing the thalamus gland in a child, that's the future of their immune function. You can increase everything from autoimmunity to producing immune-related diseases, to infections and cancers. The implications of thalamus gland suppression are enormous.
Zip on "splenda and thalamus". Ditto for "sucralose and thalamus".
Needless to say, none of Baylock's assertions in this interview has any basis in the literature.
Edited by molbiogirl, : sp

This message is a reply to:
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Buzsaw
Inactive Member


Message 39 of 308 (427760)
10-12-2007 7:12 PM
Reply to: Message 14 by Wounded King
10-12-2007 2:30 AM


Numbers Mixed Up
You're right Wounded. Thanks for pointing that out. I had the numbers backwards. Make that 1 in 2500 before to 1 in 120 present.

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 14 by Wounded King, posted 10-12-2007 2:30 AM Wounded King has not replied

purpledawn
Member (Idle past 3457 days)
Posts: 4453
From: Indiana
Joined: 04-25-2004


Message 40 of 308 (427763)
10-12-2007 7:45 PM
Reply to: Message 26 by molbiogirl
10-12-2007 3:28 PM


Re: Mercury in Children
quote:
Did you bother to read the link Wounded provided?
No I was responding to your post.
I did find the article interesting though if I'm reading it correctly.
The autistic children did not have one-eighth the “normal” amount of mercury in their baby hair. They had .47 (+/- .28) g/g which is higher than the children in the NHANES study average (which included 838 children ages 1-5) who had .22 (+/- .04) g/g.
So the author is saying that the autistic children had higher levels than the normal children according to the Holmes study. Correct?
If that is correct then this next statement confuses me.
It was the “typical” children that had huge excesses of mercury in their hair samples in Holmes et al. Remeber this graph?
I did find this comment interesting though.
Mercury level in hair is very simply a snapshot of circulating blood levels when the hair was formed. With a common set of major vessels (the carotid arteries) providing blood supply to the entire head, significantly lower levels in the hair means less mercury was probably reaching the brain during the time the hair was formed, that’s it.
If the autistic children had higher levels of mercury in their hair, then that would mean they had more mercury reaching the brain during the hair formation.
Isn't that a bad thing? Mercury and the Brain

This message is a reply to:
 Message 26 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 3:28 PM molbiogirl has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 42 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 9:24 PM purpledawn has replied

Buzsaw
Inactive Member


Message 41 of 308 (427770)
10-12-2007 8:46 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by Vacate
10-12-2007 1:16 AM


Vacate writes:
Don't you consider it important that these injections have saved people? I know of one person with autism even though everyone I know has been immunized.
1. Unknown is how many of the saved people developed medical problems, diseases and died of effects related to the mercury in the vaccines.
2. Unknown is how many would have died or become infirm without the vaccines.
3. Unknown is how many would have been able to ward off diseases like polio had the medical methodology been to prevent by building up the imune system and eliminating a lot of junk food full of white flour and white sugar etc.
4. KNOWN is that likely many of those who were disabled and/or died would not have contacted polio in the first place had DDT and other dangerous pesticides had not been used since the increase in the use of the pesticides coincided with the increase of polio. It is also known that the number of polio decreased dramatically when DDT was banned. DDT has a half life of about one year.
5. KNOWN also is the fact that the symptoms of DDT poisoning and polio are quite similar, raising the question as to whether the alleged polio epidemic was actually a DDT poisoning event.
A link to support the above knowns is as follows. I suggest a read of this study for enlightment on this subject, especially noting the visual graphs.
Pesticides and Polio:
A Critique of Scientific Literature
"Early in 1949, as a result of studies during the previous year, the author published reports implicating DDT preparations in the syndrome widely attributed to a 'virus-X' in man, in 'X-disease' in cattle and in often fatal syndromes in dogs and cats. The relationship was promptly denied by government officials, who provided no evidence to contest the author's observations but relied solely on the prestige of government authority and sheer numbers of experts to bolster their position. . . .
"['X-disease'] . . . studied by the author following known exposure to DDT and related compounds and over and over again in the same patients, each time following known exposure. We have described the syndrome as follows: . . . . In acute exacerbations, mild clonic convulsions involving mainly the legs, have been observed. Several young children exposed to DDT developed a limp lasting from 2 or 3 days to a week or more. . . .
"Simultaneously with the occurrence of this disorder [X-disease], a number of related changes occurred in the incidence of known diseases. The most striking of these is poliomyelitis. In the United States the incidence of polio had been increasing prior to 1945 at a fairly constant rate, but its epidemiologic characteristics remained unchanged. Beginning in 1946, the rate of increase more than doubled. Since then remarkable changes in the character of the disease have been noted. Contrary to all past experience, the disease has remained epidemic year after year."
Pesticides and Polio: A Critique of Scientific Literature - The Weston A. Price Foundation
Note that the "X-disease" term is used since the unknown is whether the symptoms were viral or chemical related. Either coincidently or purposely, the DDT was banned about the time the vaccine campaign began. The mysterious unknown there is whether the vaccine just happened to be introduced at a time when suspicion was rising about the government allowing the poisoning of the citizenry via $$ chemicals or whether both the ban and the vaccine coming on the scene simultaneosly was coincidenta. I suspect $$$ and a political fly in the ointment.
From my personal childhood experience, in retrospect it was about the age I had my vaccines at school that I became allergic to a number of things and developed hay fever whereas until about that age I had no symptoms of hay fever. Thanks to wholistic knowledge about bolstering the immune system my hay fever has been less intense but I must be careful with diet during the grass polination. Unknown, of course is whether there is a connection with the hay fever and the mercury and other toxins in the vaccines or whether both occured coincidently. My mother developed MS about the time the DDT and polio graphs began to rise simultaneosly, eventually to become totally disabled having suffered with the disease for some 40 years. Was there a DDT connection? About the time she was diagnosed my Dad bought a ranch were he sprayed the alfalfa with DDT in Wyoming. He was a rancher for a number of years while her disease progressed. Of course she, like the rest of the population consumed fruits and vegetables having been sprayed with DDT. My Dad also used it on some of his garden produce.
Edited by Buzsaw, : No reason given.

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present is forever consuming the eternal future and extending the infinite past.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 11 by Vacate, posted 10-12-2007 1:16 AM Vacate has not replied

molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 42 of 308 (427775)
10-12-2007 9:24 PM
Reply to: Message 40 by purpledawn
10-12-2007 7:45 PM


Re: Mercury in Children
So the author is saying that the autistic children had higher levels than the normal children according to the Holmes study. Correct? ... If that is correct then this next statement confuses me.
It was the “typical” children that had huge excesses of mercury in their hair samples in Holmes et al. Remember this graph?
The author is saying, "If the control children (the normal children) have higher levels of mercury than the autistic children, how can one claim that mercury causes autism?"
Let's iron this out.
Here is a fuller quote from Epilepsie bei Kindern und Teenagern:
Adams et al. also states:
A decreased ability to excrete mercury is consistent with a recent study by Holmes et al. (2003), which found that children with autism had only one-eighth the normal amount of mercury in their baby hair (assuming that the level in hair is indicative of the level of ability to excrete mercury).
Firstly, the Adams et al. baby teeth paper appears to have seen what it wanted to with respect to the mercury found in the first baby haircuts of autistic children (Holmes et al.). The autistic children did not have one-eighth the “normal” amount of mercury in their baby hair. They had .47 (+/- .28) g/g which is higher than the children in the NHANES study average (which included 838 children ages 1-5) who had .22 (+/- .04) g/g. It was the “typical” children that had huge excesses of mercury in their hair samples in Holmes et al. Remeber this graph?
Secondly, the peer reviewers seemed to have missed the fact that the Adams et al. paper is making a huge assumption that doesn’t appear to be supported by any scientific research whatsoever. Mercury level in hair is not scientifically known to be indicative of the level of the ability to excrete mercury. Mercury level in hair is very simply a snapshot of circulating blood levels when the hair was formed. With a common set of major vessels (the carotid arteries) providing blood supply to the entire head, significantly lower levels in the hair means less mercury was probably reaching the brain during the time the hair was formed, that’s it.
A decreased ability to excrete mercury should result in a higher body burden, and that was demonstrated in a study by Bradstreet et al. (2003). They investigated the effect of giving meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) to 221 children with autism compared to 18 controls, and found that the children with autism excreted 3.1 times more mercury into their urine (which is where DMSA is excreted), but lead and cadmium levels were not significantly different.
So much for the hypothesized “poor excretion” from Adams et al.’s statements about Holmes et al. According to the data in Bradstreet et al., these 221 children were apparently “excellent excretors“. Also, this study, published in JAPandS, reported mercury as a ratio to creatinine based on a spot collection of urine, methodology that is known to be potentially problematic with ASD subjects.
Here's another quote from Epilepsie bei Kindern und Teenagern re: the Holmes study:
One eighth of the “normal” amount of mercury?
Well, not exactly. It depends what is meant by “normal”. The Holmes et al. study found that the autism group had 0.47 g/g (+/- 0.28 g/g), which is approximately one eighth of the levels in the Holmes et al. control group.
But, was the Holmes et al. control group normal?
Let’s compare these same reported findings to a very large control group consisting of data from a study published in 2004 as part of the 1999-2000 NHANES study of 838 children aged 1-5 yr. The reported geometric mean was .12 g/g (+/- .02 g/g) and the reported arithmetic mean was .22 g/g (+/- .04 g/g), making the Holmes et al. results quite similar to, if not higher than, the “normal” amount of mercury - not one eighth of it!
Here is the Holmes study:
Reduced levels of mercury in first baby haircuts of autistic children
Int J Toxicol. 2003 Jul-Aug;22(4):277-85.
Hair mercury levels in the autistic group were 0.47 ppm versus 3.63 ppm in controls, a significant difference.
These data cast doubt on the efficacy of traditional hair analysis as a measure of total mercury exposure in a subset of the population.
Here is the NHANES study:
NCBI
Hair Mercury Levels in U.S. Children and Women of Childbearing Age: Reference Range Data from NHANES 1999-2000
Environ Health Perspect. 2004 August; 112(11): 1165-1171.
Exposure to methyl mercury, a risk factor for neurodevelopmental toxicity, was assessed in U.S. children 1-5 years of age (n = 838) and women 16-49 years of age (n = 1,726) using hair mercury analysis during the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) ... Geometric mean (standard error of the geometric mean) hair mercury was 0.12 g/g (0.01 g/g) in children.
Now let's get the facts on mercury.
quackwatch writes:
Because mercury is ubiquitous, the body reaches a steady state in which tiny amounts are absorbed and excreted. Thus, it is common to find mercury in people's urine. Mercury can also be found in the blood, because this is the major medium for transporting materials around the body. Large-scale population studies have shown that the general population has urine-mercury levels below 10 micrograms/liter.
Urine mercury levels can be artificially raised by administering a mercury scavenger (chelating agent) such as DMPS or DMSA, which collect the small amounts of mercury from the body, concentrate them, and then force them to be excreted. In other words, mercury that normally recirculates within the body is now bound and excreted. The urine level under such circumstances is artificially raised above the steady-state level.
Mercury is excreted by the kidneys, which filter the blood. The mercury levels of blood are lower than those of urine and therefore more difficult to detect. For this reason, blood testing for mercury is not commonly done.
No stool test for mercury has been standardized.
Hair mercury levels are not an accurate indicator of mercury exposure. Hair testing has never been standardized to provide meaningful information. In fact, it cannot be standardized because:
Traces of everything eaten, imbibed, or breathed can end up in the hair. While hair analysis may be of use for detecting substances”such as arsenic”that are not part of the normal environment, mercury is ubiquitous and is normally found in the hair ... It gets there from food, water, and air.
Mercury can be accurately measured in blood and also in urine, which is a distillate of the blood serum. Hair is similar to the outer layer of the skin and has no blood supply. Thus the amount of mercury in hair does not reflect the concentration in the rest of the body. Measurements of blood and urine from thousands of people have never shown high levels of mercury in the general population. Only workers with high work exposure have shown abnormal levels in blood and urine, but these are not in the toxic range.
Hair grows at different rates in different individuals and its composition is quite variable. Measuring mercury means measuring an absolute amount that is compared to the weight of the whole hair; that is, determining the concentration, expressed as micrograms of mercury per gram of hair. However, the amount of a substance absorbed into the hair is influenced by surface area and hair composition. Since hair thickness, density, shape, and surface area vary from person to person, one cannot make a "standard" comparison.
Thus it should be obvious that analyzing hair for mercury is a waste of time and money and cannot be used to diagnose mercury poisoning.
PD writes:
If the autistic children had higher levels of mercury in their hair, then that would mean they had more mercury reaching the brain during the hair formation.
The EPA considers .1 g/g per kilogram of body weight to be safe.
.47 g/g is nowhere near the "carrying capacity" of an ordinary 5 y.o. child.
Average weight = 40 lbs = 18 kg
18 kg x .1 g/g = 1.8 g/g/kg
Here's a study done this year:
Total mercury in the hair of children by combustion atomic absorption spectrometry
J Anal Toxicol. 2007 Apr;31(3):144-9.
The mean and median hair mercury levels for the subjects under study were found to be lower than the value of 1 microg/g, corresponding to the reference dose of 0.1 microg of methylmercury per kilogram body weight set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
And finally, from your link:
The second sentence!
The study has been dismissed as too small to be conclusive, but if it is right, mercury could be slightly reducing the mental performance of millions of people worldwide.
Too small is too small.
Next!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 40 by purpledawn, posted 10-12-2007 7:45 PM purpledawn has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 43 by Kitsune, posted 10-13-2007 2:51 AM molbiogirl has replied
 Message 46 by purpledawn, posted 10-13-2007 7:50 AM molbiogirl has replied

Kitsune
Member (Idle past 4300 days)
Posts: 788
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 09-16-2007


Message 43 of 308 (427820)
10-13-2007 2:51 AM
Reply to: Message 42 by molbiogirl
10-12-2007 9:24 PM


Re: Mercury in Children
Everything stated here chimes with what I've learned about mercury in the process of my amalgam removal, insofar as the difficulties in testing levels of it in the body. This is one reason why it's such frustrating guesswork. I could send off for a hair analysis but it would be useless, as you say.
However, one concern I have is that there is a certain level of mercury which is considered "safe" for everybody. Everybody is different, we have something called biochemical individuality. You can see evidence in the wide spectrum of reactions people have to taking the same dose of the same drug. Some people seem to be good at excreting mercury, others do not. Some people might be able to safely tolerate much higher levels than others. There might be a genetic susceptibility, which could be exacerbated by other conditions such as environmental toxins or a compromised immune system.
This "one size fits all" assumption is part of the problem with allopathic medicine.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 42 by molbiogirl, posted 10-12-2007 9:24 PM molbiogirl has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 44 by molbiogirl, posted 10-13-2007 4:01 AM Kitsune has replied

molbiogirl
Member (Idle past 2641 days)
Posts: 1909
From: MO
Joined: 06-06-2007


Message 44 of 308 (427836)
10-13-2007 4:01 AM
Reply to: Message 43 by Kitsune
10-13-2007 2:51 AM


Re: Mercury in Children
Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. Ignore the evidence that autistic children have a lower body burden of mercury than normal children. Ignore the fact that one of the creme de la antivaxquack creme can't even read the title of the paper he's citing. Instead, propose your own little theory.
Lindalou, I tell you what.
You provide some evidence that supports your "mercury burden" and "biochem individuality" theory.
Then we can debate your "theories".
And when you go poking around the interwebs for more evidence, don't grab just anything and drag it in here.
Provide legit evidence.
In case you've forgotten, here are some handy tips.
1. In evaluating any study try to take into account the amount of background noise. That is, remember that the more hypotheses which are tested and the less selection which goes into choosing hypotheses the more likely it is that you are looking at noise.
2. Bigger samples are better. (But note that even big samples won't help to solve the problems of observational studies which is a whole other problem).
3. Small effects are to be distrusted.
4. Multiple sources and types of evidence are desirable.
5. Evaluate literatures not individual papers.
6. Trust empirical papers which test other people's theories more than empirical papers which test the author's theory.
7. As an editor or referee, don't reject papers that fail to reject the null.
Try 4 and 5 for starters.
Oh. And one more thing. For pity's sake, no more whining. No more whining about science, the scientific method, the evil scientists, etc. It's tiresome.
In the meantime, while we wait on the soon to be forthcoming evidence, let's see if we can focus on the evidence that has been offered, mmmkay?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 43 by Kitsune, posted 10-13-2007 2:51 AM Kitsune has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 45 by Kitsune, posted 10-13-2007 4:40 AM molbiogirl has not replied

Kitsune
Member (Idle past 4300 days)
Posts: 788
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 09-16-2007


Message 45 of 308 (427840)
10-13-2007 4:40 AM
Reply to: Message 44 by molbiogirl
10-13-2007 4:01 AM


Re: Mercury in Children
Quackwatch. Self-confessed skeptic sites. These kinds of sites have the agenda of "debunking" alt med in all of its forms. The kind of information they give is going to reflect that bias and I would not trust them to be honest or to include all the facts.
You have the ability to find a study yourself and comment on it. Why not do this, instead of trusting these sources to do it accurately for you?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 44 by molbiogirl, posted 10-13-2007 4:01 AM molbiogirl has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 47 by Percy, posted 10-13-2007 8:43 AM Kitsune has not replied
 Message 59 by Buzsaw, posted 10-13-2007 5:38 PM Kitsune has not replied

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