Mercury does not cause autism

Mercury does not cause autism

http://www.livescience.com/18510-mercury-autism-linked.html

Ethylmercury, or thimerosal, is the form of mercury that was
used in vaccines and is suspected of causing autism. Prior studies
have shown that thimerosal cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.
Studies that have looked at urine mercury levels have had mixed
results. Researchers from England conducted another study comparing
urine mercury levels of 54 children with autism spectrum disorders
to 115 children from the general population, 28 children who
attended special schools, and 42 children who didn’t have
autism but had an autistic sibling. They reported no differences
between the groups. They also tested for differences in lithium,
manganese, cadmium and lead with no higher findings for the
54 children with autism. The researchers did note that it was a
small number of participants and only one urine sample was
collected from each child.

I don’t think this article should have been posted online. The
name of the researchers were not even mentioned or which
journal the findings were reported in. If the research was
conducted properly and the findings are repeatable, a journal
should accept it for publication if it’s credible information.
The researchers simply state ethylmercury does not cause
autism because there were no differences found in the urine
samples. Ethylmercury is broken down by the body and eliminated
so it wouldn’t be found years after receiving vaccines. They also
stated that autism rates have gone up, but there is less thimerasol in
vaccines today, so it must not be related. Vaccines for children have
been thimerasol free since 2001, except some trace amounts in flu vaccines.
The articles states that because people believe vaccines are not safe and
there has been a decline in immunizations, there has been a rise in cases
of mumps and measles without citing a source. Whether mercury triggered
some process that later leads to autism or not, I didn’t think this article
should make such a sweeping declaration based on an unknown source.