Poisoning of America: 1 in 4 New Yorkers Have Elevated Mercury
The Republican party has been doing its best to poison Americans. This is not an accidental thing. It is a byproduct of intentional deregulation, intentionally ignoring clear warning signs of health problems, and allowing companies and utilities to circumvent environmental regulations. Sometimes it is very specific: Bush ordering the EPA to lie about the toxicity of the World Trade Center smoke plume, thus poisoning thousands of New Yorkers, particularly first responders, leading to a syndrome known as "Ground Zero Cough" which has struck New York's rescue workers. Or Conrad Burns (A Montana Republican now happily ousted from the Senate by Jon Tester, a populist organic farmer) advocating testing pesticides on humans. Other times it is a more general increase in dangerous pollutants thanks to Republican blind faith in deregulation. Then there is the increasing problem of lead in drinking water, something the EPA is sweeping under the rug. There is now a clear pattern of Republican policies threatening the health of Americans through our air, drinking water and soil. THIS is the direct result of Republican irresponsibility.
And it has consequences. We are all affected by this. Many New Yorkers still have coughs that never went away after working at ground zero in the weeks following the attacks. And now, it turns out, mercury from industrial pollution is contaminating one in four New Yorkers. From Salon.com:
A quarter of adults in the city have elevated levels of mercury in their blood, linked to how much fish they eat, according to survey results released Monday by the health department...
Among the survey's findings:
-- New Yorkers in the highest income bracket averaged mercury levels of 3.6 micrograms per liter, compared to 2.4 micrograms per liter in the lowest income group.
-- Asian women had mercury levels at 4.1 micrograms per liter; and among foreign-born Chinese women, 66 percent had mercury levels at or above 5 micrograms per liter, the point at which it must be reported to the state for monitoring.
-- Among women in the 20-49 age bracket, the average level was 2.64 micrograms per liter, compared to a national average of 0.83 micrograms per liter among women in a similar age group.
Of course officials are ASSURING us that we are in no danger from these elevated mercury levels. Yet we know that mercury exposure in childhood is linked to autism. Mercury is a KNOWN poison. Many reccomednations regarding fish consumption suggest that people limit their consumption of many fish to once per week. Think about that. Medical professionals suggest we shouldn't eat many fish more than ONCE a week. But it is perfectly safe.
That doesn't make much sense to me. Personally I have largely stopped eating fish and will almost never feed my kids fish anymore. The existing state of affairs will only get worse as Bush administration deregulation of industry is allowing the release of MORE mercury into the same waters we get our fish from.
Thanks Republicans! I guess it is just as well...with fisheries collapsing worldwide maybe it is time to cut back on fish consumption anyway.
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mercury | poison | Pollution
Not yet definitive
Submitted by mole333 on 24 July 2007 - 9:40am.
There is a strong correlation between mercury exposure and autism. Mainly, as exposure to mercury has increased in recent years (particularly through the use of a mercury based preservative in vaccines), autism rates skyrocketed.
Now the preservative has been removed from vaccines. I remains to be seen whether a reduction in autism rates will occur. If so, then it is pretty solid. If not, then the correlation remains just that.
Well, I will go look up the data you talk about, but
Submitted by Daniel Millstone on 24 July 2007 - 4:08pm.
use of Mercury in vaccines has been eliminated for the last very many years. Autism rates have, nonetheless, climbed. This climb could have been a function, of course, of increased inclination to diagnos autism, or of the vague definition of autism itself (which now appears to be applied to a very broad spectrum of conditions).
When Hg was eliminated from vaccines, there should have been a decline in autism rates, if vaccine mercury was causing autism. Since, as I recall, there wasn't (although, I'll check and provide the cites) I think many people have concluded the vaccine Hg was not a contributor to autism.
Not true
Submitted by mole333 on 24 July 2007 - 10:00pm.
It is only VERY recently that mercury (really Thimerosal) is no longer used in vaccinations. As recently as a few years ago I asked regarding a flu shot and they still used it. The theory only was made public in 1998.
Once it is removed, which has now happened, you will CERTAINLY NOT see an immediate decline. There is still the children who have already gotten it growing up. There would still be a large population still developing under the influence of mercury exposure. There is a delay in removing the mercury and seeing a decline.
It really is only recently that ANYONE would start to expect to see any decline at all. So we are still waiting.
Of course no one ever said that vaccines were the only source. Since mercury in fish is an increasing problem, that complicates any data on vaccines, but I still would expect a decline starting in the next 5 years.
If no decline is seen in that period, I would consider the correlation suggestive but no more.
A good 2005 article on the subject can be found here.
Well, I guess we will disagree about the facts.
Submitted by Daniel Millstone on 25 July 2007 - 10:50am.
As I understand it, thimerosal (the ethyl mercury preservative in vaccines) was phased out of pediatric vaccine use in Denmark in 1992-- in my book a moderate number of years ago. Subsequent studies there since have shown increases in autism diagnoses which among those not exposed to thimerosal.
I do recall the RFK jr. article you cite. I was impressed when he wrote it because of his great reputation. In my view, you should review the underlying research which he relies which was carried out by a father-son team, the Geiers. As I understand it, they started with autistic children and their vaccine mercury exposure. It was reasoning, in my view, from effect to cause; not a fatal logical objection from the point of view of hypothesis generating but a poor way to prove anything. Of course the idea that you would cite GOP extreme-rightist Rep. Dan Burton as an authority for anything strikes me as odd. I will look for the committee report -- but...
The driest, most professionally boring review of the epidemiology, in my view is here.
There was an Institute of Medicine report in 2004 which denied any connection between autism and vaccine mercury which I haven't found yet. Here's a NY Times pieces which says "In 2004, the prestigious Institute of Medicine concluded that neither the preservative, known as thimerosal, nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was associated with autism and that various hypotheses about how they could trigger autism lacked supporting evidence. Even after thimerosal was phased out of pediatric vaccines, autism rates did not fall."
This 2005 NYTimes article sets out the issues in my view. as does this very partisan review (but couched in sciency language) piece denying any thimerosal autism link.
Well...
Submitted by mole333 on 25 July 2007 - 2:46pm.
All I can say that here in the US this was an issue within the last 3 years because the question came up in regards to vaccines my son was receiving...and he is LESS than 3 years old. And it was big news at that time...probably 2005.
I did look at some of the data and what was clear is that the curve of increase in autism matched the use of thimerosal with something of a lag that would be expected given that exposure is affecting a developmental process. I think that was the last time I paid attention because the CORRELATION seemed clear, thmerosal was being phased out (you still had to ask your pediatrition that year whether a vaccine had it or not...I know because we discussed it with our pediatrition after the Salon.com article), and whether it was causation would be shown by whether or not in the years after it's being phased out there would be some reduction in autism rates. That's about where things were last time I paid attention.
The elevated levels of Mercury in edibile portions of fish come,
it is said, from power-plant stack emissions. The air-borne Hg precipitates into surface water and taken up the food chain.
Are you certain that Mercury exposure has been definitively linked to autism? My -- admittedly cursory -- review of the toxicology literature for Mercury shows no studies establishing that.