- Image by bbaltimore via Flickr
You can find news reports and research that indicate mercury, whether present in fish, vaccines, High Fructose Corn Syrup, proximity to coal-burning power plants or occurring naturally in the environment may be linked to increasing incidents of autism. National Center for Biotechnology Information – A comprehensive review of mercury provoked autism.
You can also find research that indicates no connection, particularly between mercury in vaccines and autism. I imagine vaccine manufacturers might have a vested interest in research results considering possible litigation. Discover – Vaccines and autism: yet another dead link.
If you’re the parent of an autistic child, you struggle to find answers and solutions. My only experience with autism has been as the director of a day care center. We admitted a young autistic boy and discovered quickly we were unprepared for his behavior – throwing toys at and hitting the other children. Constantly. I cannot imagine how his parents coped.
When do we admit that there is a correlation between the toxins we’ve released into our environment, what we eat and drink, what medicines we take and our overall health? We are incredibly complex organisms about which we have relatively rudimentary knowledge. What research might prove for one group might not be true for others. There are more questions than answers.
Want to read more? I think this was an excellent write-up – One More Link in the Mercury-High Fructose Corn Syrup Chain: Autism.
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Welcome to Verda Vivo. My name is Daryl Warner Laux.
From email:
It has come to my attention that mercury fillings are still being used in the US. Has there been a
search done to see if these children have had mercury fillings in teeth?
http://www.doctorspiller.com/mercury.htm
Keep up the good work, your newsletter is the best.
Karen
Karen, thanks for your email. I had a lot of silver amalgam fillings as a child that I’ve since had replaced with composite. I was glad I did since there was a bit of decay underneath several of the fillings.
Dr. Spiller’s website states that amalgam fillings are not dangerous and quotes research to attest to his assertion. There are other websites which assert the opposite. It certainly would be something I would look into if I had an autistic child.
From email:
That is fine. My daughter has been extremely ill for years, diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. She had the amalgams out today and replaced with new no-mercury. We are expecting a recovery that may take several years because of the nerve damage.
Dentists are still using mercury!! I didn’t realize this until daughter told me yesterday. Even people who have mercury fillings and claim that they are not sick may be, they just have some illness and are given a pill to make the symptoms go away for awhile.
Keep up the great work of sharing the news items some of us can’t find on our own.
Karen
Dear all,
Whatever the source is, there is a true fact: MERCURY is VERY TOXIC (and it is internationally considered Toxic Waste), therefore, we all should avoid it whenever is possible.
Regarding mercury in dental amalgam fillings, I would like to share some reflections with you: http://www.mercurymadness.org/viewdata.aspx?sectionid=2&dataid=171, http://www.mercurymadness.org/viewdata.aspx?sectionid=1&dataid=190
More info (in English) re MERCURIADOS association at: http://www.mercurymadness.org/viewdata.aspx?sectionid=16&dataid=141
Kindly,
Servando.
[President of Spain´s patients association MERCURIADOS: http://www.mercuriados.org.
servando@mercuriados.org
Many thanks for your comment and the links to more information about mercury. When there are alternatives, there’s no excuse to keep using amalgam fillings. ~ Daryl
Yes, Daryl, I completely agree with you that “there’s no excuse to keep using amalgam fillings”, BUT, for the moment, most health authorities ´forget´ that, at least, the Precautory Principle should be first.
Most probably, in the 22nd century, regarding the dangers of mercury, also in our mouths, the German philosopher Schopenhauer´s famous saying will apply:
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident”.
Best,
Servando.
http://www.mercuriados.org
Servando, Unfortunately, I think cost is the factor when using amalgam fillings. I love the quote and hope you don’t mind if I put it on my blog. ~ Daryl
I see what you mean Daryl, BUT even money related costs (both the cost for the patient, and also possible legal claims to Ministries of Health –after all, Dentists use dental materials approaved by Health Authorities–) would be less if using other less toxic dental materials. Why? Because health, social, labour, academic costs, etc. of being ill due to dental amalgam fillings are HUGE, and AVOIDABLE by just using other dental materials. MOREOVER, MUCH more people than what it is reported are ill or increased their illnesses, BUT were not diagnosed of having mercury and/or other heavy metal acummulated, simply because chronic heavy metals poisonings are rarely, or at all, studied in Faculties of Medicine (not only in Spain). To say that “low-income families, that cannot use other more expensive materials… would be ruined…” (although the fact is that falling ill because of the mercury contained in the fillings is the actual danger), simply is a fallacy if these families are not FIRST INFORMED that dental amalgams contain MERCURY. Even Dentists are NOT INFORMED on the TRUE History of Amalgam: http://www.mercuriados.org/es/pag114 . In that respect, it should be noted that, as soon as 1833, some dental surgeons voiced their concern about dental amalgam’s effectiveness as a material; others were worried about mercury poisoning, as it was already widely known that exposal to this metal causes obvious side effects. Among these there are dementia and loss of motor coordination. Deeply concerned by this matter, Dr. C.A Harris founded in 1840 the American Society of Dental Surgeons (ASDS), which being aware of the evidence of the side effects of amalgam, forbid its use to all members in 1859. During the following decade, several members of the ASDS used amalgam dental fillings and were expelled for malpractice.
For a more concrete example of the DANGERS OF DENTAL AMALGAMS, we only need to take a look at the explanation of Professor Maths Berlin from the Swedish Commission of Dental Materials, and coordinator of WHO’s international Chemical Safety project. The following lines are an excerpt from a report submitted in 2003 to the Swedish government’s Dental Material Commission (“Mercury in dental-filling materials — an updated risk analysis in environmental medical terms. An overview of scientific literature published in 1997-2002 and current knowledge” (www.toxicteeth.org/Berlinbilaga.doc, http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/01/76/11/fb660706.pdf):
Every doctor and dentist should, where patients are suffering from unclear pathological states and autoimmune diseases, consider whether side-effects from mercury released from amalgam may be one contributory cause of the symptoms… For medical reasons, amalgam should be eliminated in dental care as soon as possible… With reference to the fact that mercury is a multipotent toxin with effects on several levels of the biochemical dynamics of the cell, amalgam must be considered to be an unsuitable material for dental restoration. This is especially true since fully adequate and less toxic alternatives are available… With reference to the risk of inhibiting [mercury’s] influence on the growing brain, it is not compatible with science and well-tried experience to use amalgam fillings in children and fertile women.
Likewise, in an article published in the Seychelles Medical and Dental Journal, Special Issue Vol. 7, No 1, November 2004 (www.seychelles.net/smdj/SECVIB.pdf), Maths Berlin stressed that:
From the time amalgam was first introduced for dental fillings, there were concerns raised that mercury toxicity could give rise to unacceptable health risks… An incidence of side effects exceeding 10% is unlikely considering available epidemiological evidence. However, an incidence of 1% or below is highly probable. This amounts to 10 000 patients in a population of 1 million amalgam bearers, a sizeable health problem. In WHO’s criteria document on inorganic mercury…. it was also established that the body’s uptake of mercury from amalgam constitutes the dominant source for mercury retention which contributes at least as much as all other sources of inorganic mercury intake together. (p. 154)
“Ending with the beggining” of my comment, a serious economic research study should take place to prove the HUGE COSTS OF STILL USING TOO MUCH DENTAL AMALGAM FILLINGS, but, again, which ecomists would be interested to “touch” such “dangerous” issue? Mercury is dangerous, but dental amalgams are even more dangerous, due to other reasons, particularly when informed Dentists speak against “silver”amalgam fillings.
At your disposal,
Servando.
http://www.mercuriados.org
P.S.: Apologies for such a long comment, but I wanted to stress that there is a hidden truth regarding dental amalgams; amalgams that have injured the health, the lives, of many, like myself and others.
Servando, I appreciate your research and passion for the subject so your comment has been published in its entirety. I hadn’t thought about the true cost of amalgam fillings in terms of illness and disease to those who have been affected by mercury poisoning. It is incredible that “experts” argue over how much mercury an individual can be exposed to when individual reactions are so, well, so individual. My daughter is deathly allergic to horses but that doesn’t make them deadly to most people. If our bodies can tolerate a certain amount of poisoning and still function, might not there be, for an individual, a tipping point when they become ill? An accumulation of poisons that the body can no longer defend against?
If you need translation services, please use Google Translate – http://translate.google.com/?hl=en.
All the best, Daryl