Autism – Again!
Now, another death blow for the untenable theory that mercury causes autism.
Mercury is highly toxic and should not be in our environment. But that’s a long way from saying the blatherings of the mercury-in-vaccines lobby are in any way correct.
If mercury was the real problem, why are the vast majority of cases boys? Do we suppose that vaccines and toxins act differently on the male than female physiology?
A new, interesting, study further puts the cap on this mercury theory, which must GO AWAY if we are to find the true cause of autism (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: a number of kids get autism who have had NO vaccinations or mercury loading).
An analysis of 26 brain imaging studies that were conducted over 15 years and included a total of 357 autistic and 370 non-autistic participants, has shown that people with autism concentrate more resources in areas devoted to visual perception, resulting in less activity in areas used to plan and control thoughts and actions.
The findings may explain why people with autism have exceptional visual abilities. Some of them, I’m sure you know, are gifted artistically, even when deeply antisocial in mood and habit.
“Autistics exhibit more activity in the temporal and occipital regions and less activity in frontal cortex than non-autistics,” said first author of the study, Fabienne Samson.
The temporal and occipital regions are involved in perceiving and recognizing patterns and objects, while the frontal areas are involved with decision making, cognitive control, planning and execution.
In fact, the autistic brain gives over some of its cognitive functioning by reallocating brain areas to visual perception. How would mercury cause that to happen? (answers on a postcard, please, to….)
[SOURCE: April 4, 2011, in the Journal Human Brain Mapping].
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