Study Shows Link Between Mercury and Autism

by LaVonne on 14/04/05 at 6:08 pm

A new study from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio has identified a suspicious link between mercury and autism. Researchers examined individual school districts in Texas and found that those with the highest rates of autism diagnoses also had the highest amounts of mercury pollution in the local environment.

Scientists compared data from the EPA on mercury releases in each of the states 254 counties with the number of special education and autistic students in the states 1,000 school districts and found that for every 1,000 lbs. of mercury that was released into the general environment in a particular county, there was a 43% increase in special education services and a 61% rise in the autism rate in county schools.

There was only one significant inconsistency in the study results. EPA statistics for Brewster County did not show any appreciable mercury releases, yet that county nonetheless had a high autism rate. Researchers were initially vexed by this theory-busting finding until they probed further and discovered that the region had once been home to one of the countrys largest mercury mines.

While the studys authors were unable to draw the conclusion that mercury pollution causes autism, the research nonetheless provided the strongest evidence to date of a relationship between exposure to this toxic heavy metal and widespread neurological damage in the general population.

Healthbuzz