SaluGenecists Science Blog

I saw a chart this morning that summed up my experience this week nicely:

Source.

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According to a study to be published next month in Environmental Health Perspectives, circulating levels of mercury are not elevated in children with autism compared to typically developing children. This study is particularly important, as parent advocacy and practitioner groups have focused on mercury toxicity and mercury chelation treatments as key interventions in the biological treatment of this common condition.

Blood mercury levels in both autistic children and typically developing controls were similar those found in previous population samples in the age group, and on average were far below levels toxicologists consider dangerous.

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A new survey published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that the prevalence of autism continues to rise. An estimated 1.1% of children between the ages of 3 and 17 are affected by conditions on the autism spectrum.

Estimates of autism prevalence prior to 1980 were below 0.05%. By the early 2000s, widely publicized estimates went as high as 0.7%. There is currently no scientific consensus on the reason for this dramatic change.

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