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Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | October 30, 2009
Mercury overblown
But while Dr. Hertz-Picciotto can't completely dismiss the mercury-autism link, she says that "mercury has been overblown," and that interesting new data point toward other possible targets.
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These include the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and pesticides in the environment, which are known to disrupt the growing central nervous system, as well as mounting evidence that autism is more than a brain disorder, and often includes gastrointestinal and metabolic dysfunctions.
Perhaps most intriguing of all is research suggesting that the cause of autism lies in the environment of the womb.
Some studies now hint that many mothers of autistic children develop antibodies, in the immunoglobulin G class, that appear to react to fetal brain tissue. Researchers have even extracted IGG antibodies from some of these mothers of autistic children and injected them into pregnant rhesus monkeys: the offspring of these monkeys went on to exhibit behaviors similar to what is seen in people with autism, such as odd repetitive movements and social isolation.
Still, only around 12 percent of mothers of autistic children present these antibodies, which leads Dr. Hertz-Picciotto to think that autism could be one name for a disorder with separate and varied causes.
"Maybe there's a cluster of autism that has to be immune issues and another group that's more metabolic, and maybe all of these have a set of environmental factors that promote aberrant aspects of development," she says.
As for vaccines, even these can't be totally thrown out as a culprit. "I think the vaccine issue is complex," she says, even though she acknowledges that "there's a very strong reaction in the medical community to the idea that vaccines could be harmful." While Dr. Hertz-Picciotto doesn't think vaccines play a major role, she won't rule out that they could have an effect on a certain sub-population of vulnerable children, not from (the now removed) mercury, but rather the sheer number of shots that some kids get at a young age.
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