Shakenbake, we have a considerable amount of research on this topic that you can find by doing a search funtion in this forum or at sott.net. According to the European Commission (http://www.sott.net/article/250623-European-Commission-Recommends-Banning-Mercury-Fillings),
“Mercury and most of its compounds are highly toxic to humans, animals and ecosystems. High doses can be fatal to humans, but even relatively low doses can seriously affect the nervous system and have been linked with possible harmful effects on the cardiovascular, immune and reproductive systems. In the presence of bacteria, mercury can change into methylmercury, its most toxic form. Methylmercury readily passes through both the placenta and the blood-brain barrier, so exposure of women of child-bearing age and of children, is of greatest concern.”
Pediatrician Sidney MacDonald Baker (Sydney MacDonald Baker. Detoxification and Healing. McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (August 27, 2003)) reports how mercury
at very low doses may be harmful to one person but not to another. There is
at least a thousand fold difference in individual thresholds for mercury poisoning; one researcher has measured differences of even
one million fold. So knowing how much mercury it takes to poison the average person is of very little help when the average is somewhere within a range that starts at one and goes to one million.
Mercury's toxicity also differs depending on its form. Metallic mercury (quicksilver) causes little absorption when touched or swallowed, while mercury vapor and organic forms of mercury (methylmercury found in fish; ethylmercury found in Thimerosal, used in vaccines and eyedrops) are practically completely absorbed.
But mercury in and of itself is extremely toxic, and at very low levels can cause neurological and other damage. Dentists use approximately 300 metric tons of mercury annually for amalgam. The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology actually made a video where mercury emanations – which usually are invisible – are exposed through a special screen. They showed how rubbing mercury amalgams (i.e. chewing gum) or drinking a hot beverage, releases mercury levels that are enough to evacuate an industrial factory. The guys were wearing gas masks as they conducted their illustration. It doesn’t make things better to think that you are often stuck in a room with a dozen people with a mouth-full of mercury.
SmokingTeeth -- Toxic Fillings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw94F94FZqA
The Autism Research Institute has been reporting for years how children with autism have symptoms consistent with that of mercury toxicity. For instance, the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry gives the following summary about the symptoms of mercury toxicity in children:
_www.autism.com/pdf/providers/heavymetals.pdf
“Mercury is considered to be a developmental toxicant. … The symptoms observed in offspring of exposed mothers are primarily neurological in origin and have ranged from delays in motor and verbal development to severe brain damage.”
“The infant may be born apparently normal, but later show effects that may range from the infant being slower to reach developmental milestones, such as the age of first walking and talking, to more severe effects including brain damage with mental retardation, incoordination, and inability to move.”
“Other severe effects observed in children whose mothers were exposed to very toxic levels of mercury during pregnancy include eventual blindness, involuntary muscle contractions and seizures, muscle weakness, and inability to speak.”
So from their research, it is clear that infants are at a particular risk and that developing fetus is 5-10 times more sensitive to mercury. Also, the human brain undergoes tremendous growth and maturation the first year of life. Mercury is known to interfere with these growth mechanisms. Exposures that occur during critical “Windows of Development” are more damaging. Consider also that in animal studies, infants do not excrete mercury until weaned and a milk diet increases gut absorption of metals.
It is within range of possibility that the corpus callosum is developed only to get reabsorbed at a later stage, as in self-destruction:
[Cytomegaly and central nervous system abnormalities. Report of 2 cases associated with agenesia of the corpus callosum and cystic encephalopathy].
_http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/169764
Two cases of cytomegaly of the central nervous system of infants, disclosing typical viral inclusions in the brain tissues, associated with agenesia of the corpus callosum and cystic symmetrical post-infarction encephalopathy are reported. It is suggested that the callosal defect was caused by cystic degeneration occuring within the lamina reuniens and the prematurely fused sulcus medianus, in early intrauterine life. The possibility of cytomegalic etiology of the malformation is discussed. However the occurrence of viral disease in a previous abnormal brain cannot be discarded. The cystic symmetrical encephalopathy is explained through a redistribution (shunting) of the cerebral blood flow, brought about by the existence of a peculiar mechanism which he calls - priority blood supplying system. This proposed system probably acts independently of the cerebral blood flow autoregulatory mechanisms in emergency states, shunting the blood to the vitaly more important homeostatic neurovegetative centers. This mechanism, in spite of its actual effectiveness, if prolonged, may be deleterious to the excluded territories and produce irreversible damages. The morphologic expression of these damages are the multiple symmetrical brain infarctions. Following occasional survival, the tissue debris of the destroyed structures in the involved areas, are slowly and progressively removed by reabsorption and replaced by unusual symmetrical cavitations.
Dairy products are very damaging in more ways than one, through its lectins, its casein protein, and by making we absorb more heavy metals that we are already breathing. It is one of the reasons why removing dairy (and gluten) from the diet is so useful in treating autism. Mercury toxicity also causes gut problems, impairing the proper functioning of important digestive enzymes and peptides needed to disassemble and digest gluten and casein.
Mercury causes pervasive disruption within our bodies by binding to sulfur, which then makes a whole range of vital sulfur-containing enzymes, transport mechanisms and structural proteins to malfunction. This is why a list of symptoms for low-level mercury toxicity covers just about any complaint you could possibly name: speech and hearing difficulties; numbness in the mouth, hands and feet; cardiovascular disease; bronchitis and lung inflammation; sensitivity to loud noises; aversion to touch; muscle wasting and weakness; social withdrawal and anxiety; obsessive-compulsive disorders; disruption of serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine – essential brain chemicals for learning, good memory, good mood, attention, and motivation.
Mercury toxicity causes damage to the immune system and triggers autoimmune disorders. Mercury exposure increases our susceptibility to viruses which will further compound a misfiring immune reaction. Autistic children are often found to have chronic viral infections.
Oral antibiotics greatly increase the toxicity of mercury to brain cells. Mercury in the brain targets cells in the amygdala and hippocampus – both part of the limbic system: the heart of the emotional response, as well as the cerebellum. A low carb diet is particularly helpful in dealing with mercury toxicity in that it helps to heal the gut and it deals with yeast overgrowth. But a low carb diet also provides for the best sources of nutrients that the body can assimilate and that are effective against mercury. It also prevents the wasting away by a high carb diet of such nutrients.
In short, knowledge protects.
