|
 Arizona
State University - Autism Baby Hair Study
A summary of preliminary results as shared with program
participants. “Our preliminary conclusion is that many children
with autism had low mercury in their baby hair, probably due to
impaired excretion. The impaired excretion is probably partly
due to excessive oral antibiotics, although genetics or other
factors may also play a role.”
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Arizona State
University
P.O. Box 876006
Tempe, AZ 85287-6006
July 2004
Dear Parent (name removed for privacy),
Thank you very much for your participation in our Autism Baby
Hair Study.
We have received the initial results of our measurements of
mercury levels in baby hair of children with autism vs.
controls.
Thank you for your patience; it took longer than anticipated for
us to gather enough samples to make it worthwhile to do the
measurements, which needed to be done all at once.
Our preliminary results partially support the previous study
done by Amy Holmes et al. In that study, they found that
children with autism had very low levels of mercury in their
baby hair, only 1/8 the amount of the control group. Our results
are similar, in that we find that the autistic group had a
median level that was 43% that of our controls. However, about
10% of our autistic group had unusually high levels, well above
the controls. Our interpretation is that most of the children
had a limited ability to excrete mercury (low level in their
hair), but a few children had unusually high levels, probably
indicating mercury toxicity due to a high exposure.
The results for your child are: xxxxxxxxx
The median value (middle value of the entire group) of the
children with autism was 0.36 ppm, with a range of 0 to 19 ppm.
The median value for the control children was 0.85 ppm, with a
range of 0.07 to 3.5 ppm
In our preliminary opinion, a value above 2 ppm suggests an
unusually high exposure to mercury.
For the children with autism, a value below 0.3 ppm suggests
either a low exposure to mercury and/or a limited ability to
excrete it. (probably the latter)
Also, in terms of the medical histories, we found that the
autism and control groups had similar maternal seafood
consumption and similar number of maternal mercury dental
fillings. We are still checking on the thimerosal content of
their vaccines.
However, the extremely interesting difference in the medical
histories is that the children with autism consistently had 2-3x
higher usage of oral antibiotics during 0-6 months, 7-12 months,
and 13-24 months of life. Oral antibiotics are known to almost
totally stop excretion of mercury, as well as kill off normal
gut bacteria and hence cause gut problems.
So, our preliminary conclusion is that many children with autism
had low mercury in their baby hair, probably due to impaired
excretion. The impaired excretion is probably partly due to
excessive oral antibiotics, although genetics or other factors
may also play a role.
However, we find that a few children with autism had unusually
high levels of mercury, which is a clear indication of mercury
toxicity.
Finally, you may be interested to know that the preliminary
results of our baby tooth study find that children with autism
have 3x as much mercury in their baby teeth as typical children,
which is consistent with this study suggesting impaired
excretion.
We will send you additional results on the tests of other
elements in your baby hair sample when they become available,
probably in 2-3 months. Some samples may be too small to do
other tests, but we will try to test all of them. Several months
after that we will write up a formal research paper on our
results, and we will send you a copy of that when it is
completed.
Again, thank you VERY MUCH for your participation in our study,
which has already provided important insight into the
autism-mercury connection.
Sincerely,
James B. Adams
Jane Romdalvik
Jim.adams@asu.edu
Jromdalvik@aol.com
www.eas.asu.edu/~autism
Used with permission.
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