Alzheimer's & Autism: The Mercury Connection

Having visited my mother over Christmas, the rapid advance of her Alzheimer's disease was shocking (her care is overseen by my brother). Both my parents have now ended their lives with a slow descent into the full throes of this terrible disease.

My father (who died some years ago) was also effectively deaf and blind, immobile and doubly incontinent at the end. My mother is still physically fairly robust at 92, but has finally completely disappeared emotionally, spiritually and mentally to leave no signs of the person she once was. And it is a painful thing - this grieving for someone who is still alive.

This article, by the UK Times newspaper columnist, A A Gill, who lost his father to Alzheimer's disease captures the heartache: Disease with Dreadful Sadness for Carers.

The massive explosion in Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia has been paralleled by the rise in autism and behavioural disorders in children - and by the advent of 'mysterious' disorders and syndromes such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease in the last few decades.

The question arises: Do they have a common cause?

Many think that they do and provide compelling evidence that the increasing use of mercury in both medicine and dentistry in recent decades is responsible for these conditions - coupled with an inherited ability or inability to detoxify mercury which has helped to confound making the link. The evidence and the issues involved are explored below.

Alzheimer's disease: The statistics 

The allopathic world maintains that Alzheimer's disease is largely a genetic disease and (as ever) with yet more research money they will be able to find a 'cure'. But this is patently nonsense.

Over half the population in the developed world will currently end their days with Alzheimer's disease if they live to be 85 or over. The earliest recorded case is now in someone aged 28, and 40 and 50 year olds are now being diagnosed fairly regularly with the condition. One in ten people aged 65-75 years and one in five people aged 75-85 will also succumb to this living death. 

More than 4 million Americans now have Alzheimer's disease and over 750,000 people in the UK have dementia according to the latest statistics. Which puts Alzheimer's disease in the epidemic category. 

This is not remotely 'normal' - and it's not genetic. If it were, then there would be a long and overwhelming history of half the population ending their days with this paralysing dementia.

Others claim that this is an inevitable aspect of living longer, but even that oft quoted chestnut is not entirely true - because we are not really living that much longer than we were 150 years ago if you take out neonatal and child mortality. And many manage to live into great old age with all their faculties - so there is nothing inevitable about the decline into insensibility. 

The first symptoms of this disease are difficulty concentrating and variable degrees of memory loss, leading ultimately to devastating mental deterioration. The brains of people with Alzheimer's disease shrink by 25 percent and have distinct pathologic hallmarks (neurofibillary tangles, amyloid plaques, and phosphorylation of tau protein).

"There is a peculiar and particular hammering sadness for those that love and care for an Alzheimer’s spouse or parent. It is a wearying and lonely obligation, but with the added cruelty that the person you’re looking after vanishes, escapes before your eyes. In the end, you’re caring for the case that someone came in."

A A Gill

Autism: The statistics

Autism was first identified by the author of Child Psychiatry, Leo Kanner, in 1931 in the USA and from these few early cases, it has grown to affect approximately 1 in 110 children today according to the US Centers for Disease Control. Asperger's Syndrome too was identified approximately ten years later by the Austrian paediatrician, Hans Asperger.

The difference between the two diseases is one of degree with both conditions being characterised by delays in the development of multiple basic functions including socialisation and communication. In addition to those diagnosed with autism and Asperger's syndrome, there are many more children who are unable to concentrate, and who are restless and have difficulty communicating normally. 

Some suggest that the labels 'autism' and 'Asperger's syndrome' be abandoned and that all autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) be placed on a severity scale or that they be reclassified as Pervasive Development Disorders (PDD). 

In the US, there are 100,000 new cases of autism diagnosed every year with more than one million children having been diagnosed over the last 30 years. There is no geographic or ethnic pattern to those affected, but all autistic spectrum disorders are 3-4 times more common in boys, and also occur more frequently in the first born and to children of older parents.  

A typical case involves a healthy boy who stops developing and communicating some time prior to his second birthday. He starts to avoid eye contact, becomes strange and aloof and retreats into his own inner world. There are usually visual, coordination, gait, speech and digestive problems accompanied by immune dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and unprovoked emotional outbursts. 

"It was as though he were in his own little world. It was like there was nobody home. He was a shell of the boy he had been before that had been energetic and had personality. It was like the movie 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. He was gone. He was literally gone from us."

Lyn Redwood, mother of a recovered autistic child 

Alzheimer's disease and autism: The similarities

For anyone who has spent any amount of time in the company of individuals suffering with Alzheimer's and autism, the similarities between the two diseases are striking - although they affect different ends of the lifespan. In fact, there are over 160 similarities between autism and Alzheimer's disease. Listed below are just some of the more obvious parallels. With both conditions there is:

• A profound impact on memory making everyday functioning and recognition of faces and voices impossible  
• A lethargy, passivity, and loss of energy 
• A loss of intellect and an inability to concentrate, sequence and complete tasks coupled with a lack of comprehension which profoundly impacts everyday life
• A sensory overload with sufferers having difficulty processing sensory information such that they withdraw from social contact, prefer being on their own and avoid eye contact 
• A catatonic state, with blank, emotionless expressions, and flat or monotone speech and a lack of comprehension of others feelings and/or meaning
• Usually an ability to read, but not to understand what is read
• Common physical markers include: poorly controlled insulin levels, sensitivity to gluten and/or casein, low levels of essential fatty acids, specific brain abnormalities, abnormal mineral and neurotransmitter levels, elevated homocysteine, characteristic immune system abnormalities, low glutathione levels, vitamin B and E deficiencies, etc.
• Difficulties with balance and gait, poor coordination, restless constant movement, 'flapping' and grimacing
• A stubborn attachment to routines and repetitive behaviours and odd and/or inappropriate behaviours
• No understanding of orientation in time or space, indeed little comprehension of 'self' and 'non-self'   
• Changes in appetite and usually weight loss
• Disrupted sleep
• Aggression, agitation, hyperactivity, anxiety, fears, depression, mood swings, rages, and unprovoked and uncontrollable crying/laughter and
• Digestive system problems with ultimate loss of continence.

Environmental factors: Mercury

Over the last 500 years there is estimated to have been a 1,000 fold increase in the amount of toxic metals stored within our bodies, primarily lead, cadmium, aluminium and mercury. And all these metals are highly synergistic with each other and also with other environmental toxins and biotoxins produced by microorganisms within the body. 

These toxic metals are effectively 'mistaken' by the body for their innocent naturally occurring mineral cousins and incorporated into all body tissues and enzyme systems. Of all the metals, mercury is the most destructive of neural tissue being the second most toxic element known.

Although, as epidemiologists are fond of reminding us 'association is not causation', during the rapid growth in the prevalence of these disorders there has been the introduction - and the massive expansion - of the vaccination programme (with the use of the mercury-based preservative, thimerasol), and the universal introduction of high copper amalgam in the 1970s (which releases 50X the mercury of the previous formulation). 

There are different forms of mercury, although all are highly toxic and infants are known to acquire between one-third and two-thirds of their mother's toxin load in the womb and via the breast milk. For the last few decades infants have then been subjected to repeated doses of the mercury based preservative (thimerasol) and aluminium (added as an adjuvant) via the vaccination programme. Thimerasol is the most toxic organic form of mercury and is, of course, injected directly into the body of a small child with an immature immune system. 

Older individuals are most likely to have acquired most of their mercury burden from their dental amalgam fillings, and this is mostly in the form of elemental mercury vapour which is then converted within the tissues of the body into its inorganic mercurous and/or organic mercuric forms.

A secondary source of mercury exposure for adults is the vaccination programme and a tertiary source is fish consumption (WHO 1991). However, both of these sources provide mercury in its most toxic, organic form which has been shown to be at least 100X more toxic than elemental mercury. 

"Early manifestations (of chronic mercury toxicity) are likely to be subtle and diagnosis difficult: Insomnia, nervousness, mild tremor, impaired judgment and coordination, decreased mental efficiency, emotional lability, headache, fatigue, loss of sexual drive and depression are often mistakenly ascribed to psychogenic causes”.  

Medical text

For possibly obvious reasons, although public health bodies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency are happy to warn of the potential for neurological injury to an estimated one in six infants from fish consumption by the mother while pregnant, they overlook the greatest sources: amalgam fillings and vaccinations.

The foetus is known to accumulate mercury at up to twice the rate of the mother and the developing nervous system of the foetus is also sensitive to mercury at levels far below those considered toxic in adults. There are also known to be 'vulnerable periods' during development of the brain and central nervous system during which exposure to neurotoxins such as mercury can profoundly and possibly permanently affect neurological development processes. 

Although mercury is known to inflict direct catastrophic neurological damage, it can also cause collateral damage via other mechanisms such as:

• Disabling the immune system
• Causing massive oxidative stress
• Decreasing lithium (which is protective of the brain)
• Depleting glutathione which is critical for mercury elimination
• Destroying the enzyme required for conversion of the fatty acid, EPA, which results in widespread inflammation and impacts the development of both red and white blood cells thus decreasing oxygenation to the tissues (particularly important in the brain) 
• Blocking the production of digestive enzymes required to digest gluten in grains and casein in milk. This causes these foodstuffs to release neurotoxic morphine-like substances that can cause the psychosis associated with autism and ADHD.

Many suspect that thimerasol and aluminium in vaccines are responsible for the lion's share of the neurological damage witnessed in children. However, others such as the neurologist, Dr Russell Blaylock, suggest that it is the number of vaccines given and especially the live vaccines such as MMR which cause 'collateral' brain damage. 

Of course, the authorities concerned (the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the American Academy of Family Physicians) famously claimed in a joint statement that there was “no evidence of harm” resulting from exposure to thimerasol in vaccines.

And in an article by the FDA advisory member, Paul Offit, in the medical journal Pediatrics in 2002 the good doctor estimated that each child could theoretically respond to 10,000 vaccines at one time without adverse effect. Which begs the question: if the immune system of a child is that robust, why do they need vaccinating at all?

Mercury causation of Alzheimer's disease: The evidence

Listed below is just some of the more compelling evidence linking mercury toxicity to Alzehimer's disease. 

• Alzheimer's disease was first described in 1906 - just a few decades after the widespread introduction of amalgam fillings.
• Alzheimer's disease sufferers have 2-3 times the brain mercury levels found in unaffected people.
• People with more amalgam fillings have been shown to have significantly more neurological, memory, mood, and behavioural problems than control groups. 
• Early life exposure to mercury has also been shown to cause subtle deterioration in neural development which may only become apparent in middle age - and exposures are cumulative throughout life (mercury has a half-life in the central nervous system of 27 years).
• Experiments on rats exposed to the levels of mercury vapour found in the oral air of people with several amalgam fillings showed that brain mercury increased increased 11 - 47 fold (Pendergrass et al, Neurotoxicology, 1997). 
• Animals exposed to the amounts of mercury found in people with an average number of fillings developed all the biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (Pendergrass et al, Neurotoxicology, 1997). 
• Having regular mercury-containing flu shots for 3-5 years was shown to increase the odds of contracting Alzheimer’s disease by a factor of ten compared to those who had one, two or no shots (Fudenberg, Internat. J. Clin. Invest., 2000 & 2004).
• Dr Boyd Haley has demonstrated that the signature changes in brain morphology associated with Alzheimer's disease can be induced by exposing neurons to the levels of mercury found in an adult with a large number of amalgam fillings.
• The SPECT scans shown below show the massive neurological destruction of the central nervous system demonstrated in Alzheimer's disease and the images of the damage done to a single neuron 30 minutes after exposure to a dilute mercury solution.  

• Construction and repair of the nervous system requires the structural protein tubulin be created to provide support for the neuron. Mercury interferes with the ability of the proteins involved to dock together. 
• Dr Boyd Haley and his team have demonstrated that radioactively labelled mercury from dental amalgam fillings placed in sheep accumulates at very high levels in the areas of the brain associated with memory (the cerebral cortex and hippocampus). 
• Of all the metals, only mercury has been shown to cause the abnormal biochemistry and neurofibillary tangles typical of Alzheimer's disease, although aluminium has been shown to dramatically potentiate the destructive actions of mercury.
• In patients diagnosed with chronic mercury toxicity (CMT), nearly 90% exhibited memory loss (Wojcik et al, Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2006 Aug).

Mercury causation of autism: The evidence

Some of the evidence linking autism to mercury toxicity includes: 

• Autism was first described just a few years after thimerasol was added to the pertussis vaccine in both the US, and later in Europe. 
• Researchers at Stony Brook Medical School found that boys that had received the thimerasol-containing hepatitis B vaccination were 9 times more likely to be enrolled in special education services, and were 3 times more likely to have autism when compared to boys that had not (Gallagher and Goodman, J. of Toxicol and Env. Health, 2010).
• A study in monkeys showed that a single thimerasol-containing Hepatitis B vaccine at birth has been associated with delayed development of innate reflexes (Hewitson et al, Neurology 2009).
• A study conducted by the US Center for Disease Control identified an association between live thimerasol injections and autism and PDD (Verstraeten et al, 1999).  
• Autistic children appear to be unable to eliminate mercury and this was first revealed by hair analysis when ASD children exhibited lower than normal levels of mercury (0.47 ppm versus 3.63 ppm in controls) in their hair samples. Also, those with the lowest mercury levels in their hair samples were the most profoundly affected (Holmes et al, Int J Toxicol. 2003).
• Mothers of autistic children were also found to have significantly higher levels of mercury exposure from a variety of sources than mothers of the control group. 
• Higher exposure to mercury and lead, especially in combination, prior to age 1 has been shown to correlate with a higher incidence of autism diagnoses (Schweikert et al, 2009).
• Children with autism have been shown to have low levels of glutathione, an antioxidant that detoxifies the body against heavy metals (James et al, American J. of Clin. Nut., 2004). 
• The statistics relating to autism prevalence can also be explained by the toxicity theory. First, older parents have accumulated a greater toxin burden which the mother then passes to her first born. The fact that ASD are 3-4 times more common in boys is a function of the fact that the male brain matures more slowly than the female brain, and also the interaction with testosterone which greatly enhances the neurotoxicity of mercury.
• Research on primates has shown that organic mercury can be converted into inorganic mercury within the brain where it accumulates causing the kinds of brain cell dysfunction and inflammation found in patients with autism (Burbacher et al, Env. Health Persp., 2005). 
• In a U.S. government funded study conducted in 2005 by the NIH, at least twice as much inorganic mercury was found to be retained in the brains of animals injected with ethylmercury (thimerasol) compared to those that ingested methylmercury.
• Vaccinations were first introduced in 1910 with the smallpox vaccine. The first recorded cases of autism and Asperger's syndrome respectively occurred in the 1930s in the US and in the 1940s in Europe. In the 1950s there were 8 vaccines to 5 diseases and the autism rate was 1 in 10,000. In the 1980s there were vaccinations to 11 diseases and an autism rate of 1 in 2,600, and this rose to a total of 40 vaccinations recommended in the 1990s and an autism rate of 1 in 350. Now, the current US mandated vaccines have risen to 58 vaccinations to 15 diseases of which 33 vaccinations are administered before the age of 2 and an autism rate of 1 in 110. Although this is an association it fits with the theory of mercury causation of ASD.

"I think that the biological case against Thimerasol is so dramatically overwhelming that only a very foolish or a very dishonest person with the credentials to understand this research would say that Thimerasol wasn’t most likely the cause of autism."

Dr. Boyd E. Haley

• Since thimerasol has been replaced in some vaccines as a preservative, autism rates have started falling.
• Last, but not least, is the fact that chelation and detoxification of mercury has resulted in recovery for many ASD children as documented by Stan Kurtz on his website www.recoveryvideos.com and by Dr Rashid Buttar at www.drbuttar.com.

Inherited capacity for mercury detoxification

A critical determining factor in susceptibility to not only autism and Alzheimer's disease, but also schizophrenia, autoimmune disease and fatigue syndromes appears to be one's genetically programmed ability to rid the body of mercury. 

The brain has a protein (apolipoprotein or APO) which is responsible for removing dangerous waste products including mercury, and which comes as either APO-E2, E3 or E4. APO-E3 can carry 1 atom of mercury out of the brain, APO-E2 can carry 2 atoms and AOP-E4, no atoms.

Our genetic inheritance determines which combination of genes we have. For those that have inherited two APO-E4 proteins, there is an 80 percent chance of acquiring Alzheimer's disease. Both Alzheimer's disease sufferers and autistic children have also been shown to have a huge preponderance of APO-E4 protein in their brains. Whereas, the APO-E2 allele - being the most efficient - may have a protective effect. 

If both your parents got Alzheimer's disease (as mine have), then there is a very high probability that you have had the misfortune to have inherited APO-E4 from both parents. Putting aside concerns about Alzheimer's disease, this allele is also responsible for 15 years of additional brain ageing according to a study conducted by Dr Stephanie Debette at Boston University. And this may account for the memory lapses in mid-life that have been associated with the later onset of Alzheimer's disease. 

Old Order Amish are often studied when it comes to environmental and genetic factors because the older Amish have eschewed the vaccination programme and because their lineage can be clearly documented. 

Both Alzheimer's disease and autism are rare amongst Old Order Amish. A study which examined the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and apolipoprotein E allele frequencies in this group concluded that the lower rates of incidence were not due to a reduced frequency of the APO-E4 allele (Pericak-Vance et al, Ann Neurol., 1996). 

In addition, inherited traits relating to the ability to detoxify mercury via the methylation pathway in both the liver and the cells may play a role and impairment of this pathway has been shown to be associated with mood disorders and depression. 

Preventing Alzheimer's disease and autism

Both these illnesses brings into question the whole concept of consciousness and the nature of reality since the robotic body 'suit' seems to live on while the unique individual disappears. 

"It is a wearying and lonely obligation, but with the added cruelty that the person you’re looking after vanishes, escapes before your eyes. In the end, you’re caring for the case that someone came in."

 A A Gill

Many millions more are destined to suffer for lifetimes entirely unnecessarily because of allopathic medicine's refusal to concede that illness in general is caused by toxicity. And many more lives will be dashed on the iceberg of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias caused ironically by the deployment of the second most toxic substance known to man - mercury - in healthcare. 

A A Gill mentions in his article his daughter's fear that he too will be claimed by Alzheimer's disease, just like his father. And he says that there are no guarantees - which, of course, is true. However, there is a lot you can do - and the time to do it is long before the diagnosis. For a self-help programme of mercury detoxification please refer to Chronic Fatigue, ME and Fibromyalgia: The Natural Recovery Plan.

Furthermore following this toxic metal detoxification programme prior to pregnancy and being fully conversant with the dangers inherent in vaccinations and making informed choices for your child(ren) may help to reduce the chances of your child's entire life being lost to an autistic spectrum disorder. 

Further resources

For a self-help programme of metals detoxification refer to Chronic Fatigue, ME and Fibromyalgia: The Natural Recovery Plan and for more about problems associated with the vaccination programme refer to Evidence of Harm by David Kirby. For more details go to Amazon UK or Amazon US. 

For related articles see How Life in the Womb Shapes Us, Book Review: How to Raise a Healthy Child, Concerns About the Safety and Efficacy of Vaccinations, Symptoms of Mercury Poisoning, History of Mercury Poisoning, Is Dental Amalgam Safe for Humans?, Toxins in the Oceans, Robert Kennedy on the Vaccine Cover-Up, Illness IS Toxicity and Research: Mercury Toxicity, Gluten and Casein.

For print media articles, videos and podcasts on the topic refer to Mercury & Dentistry and Mercury & Medicine sections or use the search facility. 

Alzheimer's & Autism: Article summary

This article examines the similarities between autism and Alzheimer's disease and looks at the scientific and circumstantial evidence linking them both to mercury acquired through the vaccination programme and the use of dental amalgam - and particularly the introduction of high copper amalgam in the 1970s.