Mercury + electro magnetic fields = autism?
What is the World Health Organization doing to stop this?
Martin Weatherall
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'According to this latest data, the odds that your infant will develop some form of ASD are now one in 63. And if you have a boy, the chances are a staggering one in 38.
I still remember that 25 years ago. when I first started practicing, the incidence of autism in the United States was only one in 100,000! This is clearly an epidemic happening in massive proportions right before our very eyes.' Dr. Mercola
Autism Spectrum Disorder has Risen to New Heights
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
September 10 2009
A pair of studies on autism rates show that somewhere around one percent of all U.S. children currently have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The rate is even higher among 6 to 11 year olds and among boys.
Among all children aged two to 17, one in 100 currently have an ASD, which is considerably higher than the previously estimated rate of one in 150. There was a 100 percent increase in parent-reported ASD rates compared to 2003.
One possible explanation for some of the increase is the expansion of the ASD classification within the public schools to include not only full-blown autism, but also milder forms of ASD such as Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome. But it is difficult to believe that this accounts for the entire increase.
One possible answer is the Hepatitis B vaccine, which also contained 25 micrograms of mercury containing thimerosal. Only 8 percent of infant children received the Hep B vaccine in 1992, when that birth cohort showed an ASD rate of 60 per 10,000.
By 1994, the number of children receiving Hep B vaccine had reached just 27 percent -- and the cohort showed an ASD rate of 66 per 10,000. The Hep B coverage rate rose to 82 percent by 1996, when that cohort's ASD rate exploded to around 100 per 10,000, or one in 100.
Sources:
Huffington Post August 11, 2009
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
If you've been following this issue you will be very aware that autism is on the rise.
For a number of years the accepted rate of autism was about one in 150, but for awhile now I have been stating that the incidence is far higher than that, and now we finally have statistics to support that.
Overall, the 2007 survey results from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) reveals a 100 percent increase in parent-reported cases of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), compared to their 2003 survey.
According to this latest data, the odds that your infant will develop some form of ASD are now one in 63. And if you have a boy, the chances are a staggering one in 38.
That's 2.6 percent of all male children in the U.S.!
Among all children aged two to 17, out of the 82,000 respondents, one in 100 reported that their child currently has an ASD. This is far higher than the previous CDC estimate of one in 150.
A similar British study puts the overall U.K. rate at one in 83.
These numbers sadly support the surprising findings earlier this year, when the journal Epidemiology published a study showing a sevenfold increase in autism cases in California, between the years of 1990 to 2006.
In 1990, 6.2 of every 10,000 children born in California were diagnosed with autism by the age of 5. By 2001, that had risen to 42.5 in 10,000.
I still remember that 25 years ago. when I first started practicing, the incidence of autism in the United States was only one in 100,000! This is clearly an epidemic happening in massive proportions right before our very eyes.
What's Causing These Out of Control Autism Rates?
Many researchers are now advocating for a shift in autism research to focus on environmental factors such as pesticides, viruses and chemicals in household products rather than genetics.
It makes no rational sense that funding for studying the genetic causes of autism is 10 to 20 times higher than funding for environmental causes. Because although genetics play a role in an estimated one percent of cases, the other 99 percent are still a mystery to conventional scientists.
Likewise, to suggest this massive increase could be due to relaxed diagnosis criteria seems to be grasping at straws.
So what is the explanation?
The Common Thread Among Those With Autism
Dr. Klinghardt, one of my primary mentors and a pioneer in natural medicine, discussed the toxic origins of autism in an extensive interview with me late last year. You can watch a snippet of it here, or join my Inner Circle to get access to the entire interview.
One topic discussed is the fact that in most people with autism, their pathways of detoxification have become overwhelmed by both man-made and microbial toxins.
The toxins that are at the top of this list are:
Mercury and other metals, such as aluminum. The major route of exposure here is from vaccines, and also from eating contaminated seafood.
Viruses and microbes, such as mold. Children with autism not only have overwhelmed detoxification pathways and often heavy metal toxicity, but, according to Dr. Klinghardt, they also have a silent, daily toxin production in their body caused by toxic microbes.
Electromagnetic Fields (EMF). These come not only from cell phones and cordless phones, but also from electrical outlets and WI-FI. Dr. Klinghardt considers EMF "synergistically causal," partly because it potentiates the production of toxic microbes and endotoxins.
We already know that children are now born toxic due to the increasing toxic load of their mothers. We know that the childhood vaccination schedule has gone from requiring 10 vaccinations in 1976, to now including 36 injections before your child reaches 12 months of age.
We also know that the use of cell phones and other WiFi equipment has exploded, and according to some experts, like Dr. Klinghardt, EMF exposure increases the toxicity of many already hazardous substances.
For example, in a small study performed by Dr. Klinghardt, he showed that autism can actually be predicted based on the EMF levels of your sleeping quarters while you are pregnant!
He found that if you sleep in strong electromagnetic fields during pregnancy, your child will likely begin to exhibit neurological abnormalities within the first two years of life, such as:
Neurological dysfunction
Hyperactivity
Learning disorders
What About Vaccines?
Once you've reviewed the available data, it's also virtually impossible to ignore the dangerous impact of our overzealous vaccination schedule.
According to Lee Grossman, President and CEO of Autism Society of America (ASA):
"A person with an autism spectrum disorder has a number of underlying and seemingly unnoticed immunological, inflammatory or mitochondrial issues happening, and there could be any number of factors that trigger this, and it is certainly plausible that vaccines are one of those triggers."
As discussed in the article above, the increased use of the Hepatitis B vaccine also coincides with a rise in autism, and the Hep B vaccine contained 25 micrograms of thimerosal – a mercury-containing ingredient that has long been thought to be a contributing factor to autism due to its potent neurotoxic effects.
According to the CDC's National Immunization Survey, 8 percent of infants received the Hep B vaccine in 1992. At the time the ASD rate was 67 in 10,000. Four years later, at which time 82 percent of infants received the Hep B vaccine, the ASD rate rose to about 100 in 10,000.
Recent studies have shown that the Hepatitis B vaccine can damage myelin in those with certain genetic factors. For example, one recent study found that children who received the vaccine were 50 percent more likely to develop "central nervous system inflammatory demyelination" than children who did not receive the vaccine.
GlaxoSmithKline's Engerix B brand of the vaccine was shown to be the worst of the bunch, increasing the risk of demyelination by 74 percent. It also nearly tripled the risk of developing multiple sclerosis in genetically susceptible people.
As you can see, there are likely a wide variety of potential factors involved, and we need to know what all of these exposures in combination mean to the health of our children if we ever want to turn this tide of autism around.
One Contributing Factor You Can Remedy Right Now
Another major contributor to autism that has recently been appreciated is vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women.
The vitamin D receptor appears in a wide variety of brain tissue early in the fetal development, and activated vitamin D receptors increase nerve growth in your brain. It is my personal belief that this may be the single largest contributing factor to autism and that it is a deficiency of sun exposure to the pregnant mom, and subsequently to the fetus, that puts the child at a massively increased risk of developing autism in the first place.
Fortunately, this is one risk factor you can do something about right now.
I believe one of the most important changes that could radically reduce autism is to make certain that ALL pregnant women normalize their vitamin D levels to 50-60 ng/ml.
What to Do and Where to Turn if You Have an Autistic Child
Lee Grossman of the ASA was quoted as saying,
"Now, many people believe that autism is associated with environmental triggers, and my message is: 'Wake up.'
If this doesn't wake people up, then I don't know what will.
I'm hopeful that this unfortunate statistic, and the terrible growth in autism, will finally get people to act to do something about autism. And by that, I mean the fine folks in government who are not responding in the ways that they should."
I hope so too.
But I'm not holding my breath for sanity to sweep across government any time soon. And if you're waiting for conventional medicine to come up with some "cure," you may be waiting for a long time.
Fortunately, there are other options, many of which are turning out to be effective.
I am collaborating with some of the leading experts in autism, including Dr. Klinghardt, and participating in the THRiiiVE think-tank that will provide basic resources for those afflicted with autism.
During the most recent THRiiiVE summit in October, 2008 we created the Top 10 Prioritized To Do List for people with autism.
I have detailed the entire list in this past article, so please, if your child or someone you know has autism, take a few minutes to review it.
As part of the program, Dr. Klinghardt recommends the following three steps that should be urgently addressed in children with autism:
If you are interested in receiving important updates on matters relating to autism directly from THRiiiVE, you can sign up for their e-Alert by sending an email to Autism@THRiiiVE.com.
In the next two weeks I hope to post videos and transcript summaries of highly effective strategies for autism. These strategies have taken years to develop, so stay tuned.
'Smart Meter' concerns
Electric, gas and water utilities in the USA and other developed nations are installing radio-broadcasting "smart" meters nation, replacing the present meters.
I've received calls and e-mails from electrically sensitive people who had these attached to their homes, who are experiencing debilitating symptoms corresponding in time with the placement of the meters. I certainly didn't want one attached to my own home, yet made no progress in conversation with We Energies, our elecricity provider here in Wisconsin. Their attitude towards those of us protesting placement of these meters, included "If you don't like it, get your electricty elsewhere," and a threat that power would be turned off.
Catherine Kleiber, hostess of http://www.electricalpollution.com suggested that I contact the local group of The National Council For Independent Living. The man I spoke with there assured me that he'd take care of that problem, no worry. To my surprise, he did.
At least, it seems so. He says that the utility company agreed to leave my present meter in place, and that if they bring the subject of a RF meter up again he will take care of it then, too.
American ES individuals who want to avoid placement of such a meter on their home, or get an already-installed one removed can call the National Council For Independent Living and ask for contact information of the nearest affiliate group in their own area.
It remains to be seen how well this approach will work for those who are concerned about how the radiation from the meter would affect them, but who have not had a "defining experience" regarding how EMR/EMF affects them personally. However, once a number of individuals have been expempted on grounds of health concerns, it certainly opens the door to others being exempted, as well. And there is certainly research showing good cause for concern regarding such exposure.
Please see Catherine's article, from her website, below.
And please let me know your experience if you work with your local affiliate of The National Council For Independent Living.
Shivani Arjuna
www.LifeEnergies.com
Phone: 920-9994-4082
Transmitting Smart Meters Pose A Serious Threat To Public Health
Transmitting smart meters are being installed nationwide on gas, water, and electrical services, driven in part by funding for the Smart Grid Program approved as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
This is of great concern because the exposure to microwave and radiowave radiation from these meters is involuntary and continuous.
The transmitting meters do comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "safety" standards. However, those standards were initially designed to protect an average male from tissue heating (cooking) during a brief exposure. These standards were not designed to protect a diverse population from the non-thermal effects of continuous exposure to microwave and radiowave radiation. Therefore, these "safety" standards were not designed to protect the public from health problems under the circumstances which the meters are being used. The transmitting meters most often being used transmit continuously, every few seconds. This is picked up by a receiver and logged by the utility.
You are exposed to the transmissions from all the meters within transmitting range. The meters often have a range of over 2 miles. Thus, the exposure is continuous and the "safety" standards the meters comply with are irrelevant to the situation. Please read this letter from the Radiation Protection Division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the limitations of the FCC standards.
Some transmitting meters transmit at less frequent intervals, however, they still seem to be causing health problems. This could be due to the still elevated levels of radiowaves and microwaves in the neighborhood because of all the neighbors transmitters. Remember, many, many meters are transmitting at these intervals. (One person with a meter transmitting hourly reports waking at the time it transmits.)
The transmitting meters can also put high frequencies directly on home and building wiring. This can happen deliberately through signaling to electrical loads or inadvertently through poor engineering. Poorly engineered meters can cause electrical pollution by putting the transmitted signal directly on home wiring or by the way they draw power to operate. Whether deliberate or inadvertent, studies are finding high frequencies on building wiring is related to a host of health problems. Milham and Morgan found a dose-response relationship between high frequencies present on building wiring and cancer.
Removing high frequencies on building wiring has improved MS symptoms, blood sugar levels, asthma, sleep quality, teacher health, headaches, ADD, and numerous other health problems. (Visit Research page to see papers.) Technical papers provide a solid electrical and biomolecular basis for these effects. A recent paper by Ozen, showed that transients induce much stronger current density levels in the human body than does the powerline 60Hz signal. A technical paper by Vignati and Giuliani discusses the authors' findings that high frequency communication signals on power lines also induce much stronger electrical currents in the human body than a low frequency signal of the same strength. The induced currents disturb normal intercellular communications. This causes harmful short-term and long-term effects. Please see the Technical pagefor information about properly measuring the high frequencies on building wiring that are causing health problems. There is also a simple meter that lay people can use to easily measure most high frequencies on building wiring.
The objectives of the Smart Grid Program can be accomplished without transmitting meters and without using other technology such as high frequency communication over power lines, which are also harmful to human health. It simply requires that meters be selected that are properly engineered to meet the needs of the program without using dangerous technology. Multi-rate billing and other sophisticated metering options do not require that the meter transmit. Models are available that download periodically on phone lines, dedicated communication lines, or are read by a reader the meter reader carries.
Dedicated communication cables can be used to shut off or allow on certain power consuming electronics such as air conditioners. It is essential that only meters that do not transmit or put high frequency signals on building wiring are approved for the Smart Grid Program.
The un-safeness of the "safety" standards for the continuously transmitting smart meters is apparent from the reports of health problems ranging from headaches to poor sleep to heart palpitations that begin after their installation.
Transmitted microwave and radiowave radiation also have the potential for causing serious long-term health consequences, even for those who do not notice overt symptoms. The majority of independent studies report similar results: impairment of cellular communication, DNA breakages, increased stress proteins, etc. Studies targeting cellphone and cordless phone usage are finding increased risk of brain tumors.
Children seem to be particularly vulnerable. A review of studies performed prior to 2007 is available at http://www.bioinitiave.org . A recent public health study provides particularly strong evidence that we should be concerned about continuous exposure to transmitted microwave radiation. It can be found in a paper published in Pathophysiology (Volume 16, Issue 1, June 2009, Pages 43-46) Apparent decreases in Swedish public health indicators after 1997-Are they due to improved diagnostics or to environmental factors?
The authors looked at trend lines in data collected by the Swedish government and found that the introduction of cellphone technology nationwide in 1997 coincided with the beginning of an accelerating deterioration of several health indicators. Specifically, the rates of prostate cancer, brain tumors, melanomas and lung cancers in the elderly all increased dramatically. So did deaths from Alzheimer's disease, traffic accident injuries, sick leave rates, and percentage of infants born with heart problems. This paper is short and well worth reading. We should resolve the public health questions before introducing further public exposure to microwave radiation, particularly involuntary continuous exposure.
Radiowave and microwave radiation are not just a problem for people, they are causing serious problems for animals of all types. Please visit:
http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/emr.php?id=bees
and
http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/
for more information.
I will be sending updates regarding the issue of transmitting smart meters out to my email list. You may join the list by typing "join email list" in the subject heading when you email the Webmaster at
webmaster@electricalpollution.com. I will also be updating the website.
If you do not have a transmitting smart meter and do not want one for health reasons, in addition to contacting your utility and Public Service Commission or Public Utility Commission, please do the following:
• Spread the word about the public health threat posed by transmitting smart meters. Link to
http://www.electricalpollution.com/smartmeters.html on your Facebook or MySpace page, if you have one, or notify your friends online via email.
• Write George Arnold, National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability. He has the power to set policy on meter qualifications for the Smart Grid Program. The program could, for instance, require non-transmitting and non-electrically polluting meters. However, he will have to be convinced of the public health threat they pose in order to do so.
(I am in the process of adding to this list. Please join my email list or check back for additional important actions you can take.)
If you already have a transmitting meter and it is causing you health problems, please file a complaint with both the agencies listed below and then send a copy of those complaints to the EMR Policy Institute at info@emrpolicy.org with "Transmitting Smart Meter Complaint in the subject heading so that they can independently compile the complaints.
(Please be prepared to give product information, including manufacturer and model number, and health symptoms.)
• Food and Drug Administration - The FDA regulates electronic consumer products that emit radiation (such as microwave ovens and video monitors and cellphones). You can file a complaint through the Medwatch Program on their website
at:
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch-online.htm
or by calling 1-800-FDA-1088. The same program that regulates medical devices, regulates consumer products that emit radiation.
• Consumer Product Safety Commission - The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for taking dangerous products off the market.
You can file a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission at 1-800-638-2772 or https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx.
• EMR Policy Institute - Please send a copy of the complaints filed with the FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to the EMR Policy Institute at info@emrpolicy.org with "Transmitting Smart Meter Complaint" in the subject heading so that they can independently compile the complaints.
This is not a substitute for filing complaints with the FDA or the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
They will not stop installing these meters unless complaints are filed.
Check back or join the email list for further steps you can take. You may join the list by typing "join email list" in the subject heading when you email the Webmaster at webmaster@electricalpollution.com
