A study by a team of international scientists claims that there is a fundamental relationship between mercury and autism.

Their research results show that children with autism spectrum disorder had significantly higher levels of mercury when compared with healthy control children

They found that those children with the highest levels of mercury had the most severe autism symptoms.

Natural Blaze reports:

A direct correlation was also observed between levels of mercury toxicity and the severity of autistic behavior. The study, Altered Urinary Porphyrins and Mercury Exposure as Biomarkers for Autism Severity in Egyptian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, was published in the journal Metabolic Brain Disease.

The anti-vaccine movement for years has suspected a link between Thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine adjuvant (preservative), and autism. Researchers out of Egypt, Italy and Norway decided to test this claim. They formed a controlled study with 100 Egyptian children with a goal to reveal if compounds containing mercury are in fact contributors to the development of autism.

The test subjects were split into three groups: children with ASD (40), healthy controls (40), and healthy siblings of the ASD children (20). The scientist tested the children’s urinary samples, specifically comparing the level of urinary porphyrins, a biomarker of mercury toxicity. The researchers write:

Results showed that children with ASD had significantly higher levels of Hg [mercury], Pb [lead], and the porphyrins pentacarboxyporphyrin, coproporphyrin, precoproporphyrin, uroporphyrins, and hexacarboxyporphyrin compared to healthy controls and healthy siblings of the ASD children.

The present study indicates that coproporphyrin and precoproporhyrin may be utilized as possible biomarkers for heavy metal exposure and autism severity in children with ASD.

Autism, formally known as autism spectrum disorder or ASD, is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder which has become extremely prevalent particularly in the United States. More people than ever before are being diagnosed with an ASD. It is estimated that 1 out of 50 U.S. school-aged children is diagnosed with autism.

Even though the neurotoxin mercury has been banned by the FDA since 1999, it still appears in vaccine formulations to this day. Some estimate that Thimerosal is still present in up to 60% of flu vaccines marketed today. Research continues to accumulate validating a link between autism presence or severity to mercury exposure as determined by measuring urinary porphyrins.

By Anna Hunt