FYI
Elizabeth O'Brien, Australia

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lourdes Salvador" <salvadorlourdes@...>
To: <cehncommunity@...>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 7:09 AM
Subject: [cehncommunity] Autism and 9-11: The Connection


June 30, 2007 at 09:26:45

Autism and 9-11: The Connection

by Vin LoPresti Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com




What do California condors and autistic children have in common? Quite
possibly it's a need for chemical detoxification. As discussed frequently by
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vigorous environmental advocate, there's little
doubt
that mercury in the form of thimerosal (ethyl mercury) is "poisoning the
brains of children throughout the world." Kennedy rails against the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) for being "criminally negligent" on this issue.
Mercury is a neurotoxin, and allowing it to seep into the forming synapses
of
infant and toddler brains is, or should be, an act of criminal proportions.

This is a fact somewhat separate from the debate about what really "causes
autism." Given the known biotoxic effects of heavy metals like lead and
mercury, how can anyone argue, as vaccine manufactures continue to do, that
that mercury, at any level, is harmless to developing tissues of children.
Yet
that autism debate rages on, the most disingenuous of the combatants parking
themselves in the absurd, overly simplistic extremes of genetics versus
environment. The truth likely lies somewhere in between. Certain children,
through their genetic makeups, are likely more sensitive to neurotoxins such
as mercury.



In an environment where drugs like Prozac seep into drinking water, and the
bodies of all of us bubble with a diversity of toxins, like PCBs and
dioxins,
who is to say what combination of toxins, thimerosal included, may provoke
childhood brain disorders like hyperactivity or autism? From a toxicological
point of view, mercury, possibly in combination with other toxins, might act
in a direct fashion on the brains of these kids. Or it's also possible,
given
what is known about mercury, that it could, drive the immune system into a
haywire interaction with its own nervous system and contributing to the
neurological damage.

On June 25, the same day that Kennedy made his assertions about the
mercury-autism connection on radio, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D, NY) held
subcommittee hearings into the health effects of environmental toxicity
suffered by 9-11 responders and residents. What many fail to appreciate is
that the plethora of illnesses currently afflicting tens of thousands of
9-11
responders offers us a mirror of the health effects related to the
accumulating toxicity to which we are all exposed. They come at us, and into
us, from our food, air, water and from products and materials we use at home
and at work over our lifetimes. Just as the genetic makeups of some children
can predispose them to brain/behavioral disorders, when exposed to
thimerosal,
a number of the 9-11 responders, against a background of a career of the
exposures they got while fighting fires, developed lung pathologies-- the
notorious WTC cough and chronic lung diseases --and also a host of
immunological and neurological symptoms. Their chronic fatigue, loss of
memory, inability to concentrate and disruption of sleep may, in a very real
sense, parallel the damaged neurology in mercury-exposed children.

Proponents of the thimerosal causation of autism, like Kennedy, argue that a
detoxification method called chelation therapy is of great benefit to these
children. Detoxification, they claim, is a necessary strategy in a
population
already polluted by its environment. Kennedy chides the CDC, and the
traditional U.S. medical establishment, for refusing to even study
chelation.
And in like fashion, when nearly 1,000 of the between 40,000 and 70,000
estimated 9-11 responders who say they have suffered health problems due to
their World Trade Center toxic exposures have demonstrated benefit from a
sauna detoxification procedure, New York City and its traditional medical
team
at Mt. Sinai Hospital and other WTC treatment centers vigorously ignore the
fact that this rehabilitation therapy is actually working. While the ill
responders continue to deteriorate and develop rare cancers, like multiple
myeloma, almost all of those who received detoxification therapy have
returned
to relatively normal lives, their mental fogginess allayed, their sleep
quality restored, their energy for living reinvigorated.

In general, this correlation bears testament to the growing necessity for
toxin cleansing on a planet groaning under the weight of body-stored toxins.
As for the condor connection mentioned at the beginning of this article,
interestingly, there was no hesitation when isotopic fingerprinting showed
that the endangered California condor was suffering from lead poisoning
after
ingestion of lead-bullet-poisoned carcasses left behind by hunters. Using
chelation to remove the lead from the condors' blood and tissues, wildlife
biologists rescued dozens of birds, greatly assisting a captive breeding
program that is returning the species to viability.

Future generations will tell us whether we too readily neglected and
rejected
chelation and other forms of detoxification in favor of traditional
medicine,
which tends to function within the trade space of putting more chemicals
(drugs) into bodies already overflowing with foreign substances. They will
tell us whether we were too resistant to a needed a paradigm shift, which
would recognize the need to relieve a body of its toxic burden as a more
viable path to regaining health rather than trying to relieve symptoms with
drug therapy alone.



VinyL is a molecular biologist who's passion is the philsophical and
pragmatic
expansion of the US healthcare system away from its insane addiction to
physician-lock, reductionistic, simpleminded drug therapy toward a
more-global
view based on the recognition of the primacy of organisms as
information-processing networks.


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_vin_lopr_070629_autism_and_9_11_3a_th
e.htm

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