There are many theories on the environmental triggers leading to autism. After your child received a diagnosis of autism or the related autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), you probably spent considerable time looking for a reason or cause. It is important to understand that there may be hundreds of different things in our environment which can cause autism. It is critical to determine your child’s unique sensitivities in order to avoid them and to tailor a treatment plan. As far as we know, there is no one cause of autism and no single cure.

The causes of autism are all very controversial. They should be considered not as established fact, but as theories and possibilities. However, don’t dismiss them for lack of proof; it is simply not possible to test them. Toxic heavy metals such as lead and mercury are highly toxic to life and are known to cause developmental disabilities. Exposure to these elements may have contributed to your child’s autism.

Lead is a potent killer of brain cells (a neurotoxin). Even short-term exposure to small amounts of lead by a fetus, infant or young child can cause permanent learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and reduced intelligence. Lead was banned from paint and gasoline in the 1970’s, but it still poses a serious threat through contaminated soil, plumbing, old painted surfaces, vinyl mini-blinds, and lead in toys. Lead poses a serious threat to all children, but may be much more devastating in children with a genetic or biochemical predisposition to autism because the pathways to rid the body of toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury are often seriously flawed and ineffective in these children. High lead may show up on a blood minerals test you can give your child with the help of a physician. If it is higher than average or if you live in a home built in the 1960’s or earlier, you should purchase a home lead testing kit. The Lead Inspector® Lead Test Kit was reviewed (December, 2007) by Consumer Reports as being one of the most accurate available. They cannot accurately detect low levels and can be fooled by dirty surfaces, but if you follow the directions and consistently get a strong positive reading, it is time to throw away the object or call in the experts. Almost every city has lead remediation services that will come to your home. Don’t forget to test plastic and wood toys, interior and exterior painted surfaces and to do tests at any location where your child spends time – like at a daycare center or friends’ homes. If anything changes in the house, like remodeling a room, or scraping paint from woodwork, or if the exterior paint begins to wear off the house – retest! Unfortunately, your child may have a problem with lead toxicity and still have a low blood lead level, because many autistic children cannot excrete toxins like lead. This means it gets trapped in the tissues of their bodies where it does great harm and cannot be detected with routine blood tests.

Mercury is a naturally occurring toxic heavy metal that is present all around us. It can be found in the soil, in the water and in the air. There is no longer any sensible debate over the facts that; 1) mercury is dangerous to our bodies, 2) mercury poisoning can cause neurological symptoms in humans and other animals, and 3) fetuses, infants and young children are more sensitive to damage from mercury than adults. Mercury is released into the air by coal-burning power plants, comes down in rain, is absorbed by bacteria where it is converted into the organic form (methylmercury), and is carried up the food chain into the bodies of fish and then to fish eaters. Once absorbed, methylmercury gets stuck in the body and does not leave easily. You might think it would be easy to avoid mercury poisoning by just not eating fish. Unfortunately, mercury is also used in a number of industrial processes which can contaminate the environment and most insidiously, is a component of preservatives used in many vaccines.

Currently, there is great controversy concerning the link between mercury poisoning and autism. An unbiased review of the scientific literature will point to studies saying there is no connection and to studies concluding there is a link. Some of the most convincing evidence is a comparison between the symptoms of mercury poisoning and autism. The symptoms are so close that there can be no debate that many of the symptoms of autism look just like mercury poisoning. However, from this comparison alone we cannot conclude that mercury can cause autism.

Unless your family eats a lot of oceanic fish (like tuna), lives near a coal-fired power plant or near a factory that spews out mercury, the main source of mercury for most of our children will be from childhood vaccines – the shots we are told will protect our kids may be their worst enemy. The villain of this story is a preservative called Thimerosal. It is 50% mercury (by weight) in an organic form called ethylmercury. The saddest part of this story is that this is a totally avoidable risk. We know this is almost impossible to believe, but every time you brought your baby in for routine shots they were exposed to more than 100 times the amount of mercury considered safe (by the Environmental Protection Agency) for an adult! Your baby’s exposure was even higher if the mother received an influenza vaccine or a RhoGAM® injection while pregnant.

Thimerosal is a very effective chemical. It prevents microbial contamination so effectively that vaccines can be produced and sold in multi-use containers rather than in single dose vials. Per dose, it is slightly cheaper to manufacture this way. Given the huge number of doses produced each year, this adds up to significant savings to the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture and sell vaccines. As early as 1935, Eli Lilly, the maker of Thimerosal, began receiving scientific reports on the dangers of this preservative. In the 1950’s and 60’s, several scientific papers were published concluding Thimerosal was toxic. In 1971 Lilly’s own scientists concluded Thimerosal was toxic. The company kept secret, then disregarded these findings, and expanded Thimerosal use to a topical disinfectant – resulting in the death of 10 newborns. In 1982 the FDA concluded that Thimerosal was too dangerous to include in over-the-counter products. In 1991, Thimerosal was banned from animal vaccines. In 1999, the Public Health Service (PHS) agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics and vaccine manufacturers agreed that Thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure. In 2001 the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine stated that removal of Thimerosal from vaccines was “prudent”, but in 2004 concluded the connections between Thimerosal and autism were only “theoretical” since the exact method by which this toxin allegedly caused autism were still largely unknown.

You might think that this disgraceful history would mean that Thimerosal was permanently banned from any medical or veterinary use, but it was not. You might also think that a link between autism and Thimerosal was easy and obvious, but it is not. There have been a number of other scientific studies that conclude there is no linkage between Thimerosal and neurological injury in humans – and equally compelling studies that conclude there is such a link. Thimerosal use has been reduced and eliminated from childhood vaccines in many states and countries and still the rate of autism continues to go up in these places.

Many scientific studies have been done to find out the “why” and “how” of Thimerosal toxicity. It seems Thimerosal damages many parts of the body, including brain cells and the immune system – even when present at very low concentrations. One interesting study compared the level of mercury in hair after vaccination. It found that mercury levels in hair were lowest in the most severely autistic kids and higher over all in typically developed children. This agrees with what we now know about autism – many autistic children are poor at removing mercury and other toxins from their bodies. This study provides a clue to why our kids ended up with autism and most others do not, even though they probably all got the same level of mercury exposure. Our children may have been born with genes that predispose them to develop dysfunctional detoxification systems incapable of efficiently removing toxins like mercury from their bodies. The bottom line is the best science we have at this time cannot PROVE mercury or Thimerosal causes autism. You and your doctors cannot even be absolutely sure that your child’s autism was caused by Thimerosal. It may be that some kids with autism are MUCH MORE sensitive to ethylmercury poisoning than the population in general. If this were not the case, we would be a nation of autistic individuals, because almost all of us have received unsafe levels of mercury through our childhood vaccinations and flu shots.

So what should we do as a nation and as parents? It seems sensible to ban Thimerosal and other mercury containing preservatives from ALL drugs. The extra cost involved in single use vials is tiny compared to the price most consumers end up paying for vaccination – to say nothing of the lifetime cost of treating a person with autism. We have no reason to believe the FDA will take responsibility for this, so it is most important that we as parents do. You must insist that ALL vaccinations you receive (if pregnant) and those given to your autistic child and their siblings be mercury-free and in single-use vials or pre-filled syringes. This includes childhood vaccines and flu shots. Your pediatrician or health professional may think you are crazy and try to convince you of the safety of the multiuse vaccine. Stand your ground on this issue! Ultimately, YOU are in charge of your children’s health care, and physicians need respect the decisions you make. One good way to make sure the vaccines are mercury-free is to request this from your health care provider in writing and insist on a written record of all vaccines including manufacturer, batch, and lot numbers. You can, and should, check the safety of vaccines prior to having them administered by checking the SafeMinds website. If the doctor won’t accommodate your requests for mercury-free vaccines or won’t give you the batch and lot numbers upon request – you need to find a new one!

You can choose to delay or avoid childhood vaccinations but this poses a very serious health risk, because they will be less protected from some dangerous diseases. You also will not receive much support for this decision from your medical professionals or the school system your child attends. However, under some circumstances, you can officially abstain from childhood vaccinations for “religious reasons”.

It is very important for you to try to figure out the environmental triggers of your child’s autism. You need to protect them from further injury and since there is strong evidence for a genetic link to autism, there is a chance their siblings will have similar sensitivities. However, if your child’s autistic symptoms are linked to toxic heavy metal poisoning, you are not helpless. You need to do all you can to detect the toxin and most importantly, you need to remove the toxins from their bodies as soon as possible. There are some very reliable tests that can be administered and some safe treatment options once toxicity has been established. This information is reviewed in detail in the book Conquer Autism.

Read more free autism articles on this website:

Autism Causes-Toxic Heavy Metals / Diagnosis and Evaluation / Signs and Symptoms-Play / Signs and Symptoms-Language Problems / Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) / Autism Indications for Immediate Evaluation / Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) / After the Diagnosis / After the Diagnosis-Assembling and Managing the Team / Conquer Autism Chapter Summary

Purchase the Conquer Autism eBook with all this information and much more.