Olmsted on Autism: Is Kathleen Seidel Toxic?

By Dan Olmsted

I've just finished reading Autism's False Prophets by Paul Offit (more on the book in a later post). Offit showcases several parents of children with autism who do not believe vaccines had anything to do with it. One such parent is Kathleen Seidel, whom Offit says "has been a constant, unshakable thorn in the side of those who have hijacked the discussions about the cause of autism."

"All autism is caused by mercury poisoning?" she is quoted as saying. "Excuse me. Did it ever occur to [vaccine mercury critics] that someone might object to having their family members labeled as inherently toxic?"

Well, I don't think every case of autism is caused by mercury poisoning -- just that mercury, as a matter of simple fact, is implicated in the rise of autism. It's a free country and a reasonable public health debate, whether Paul Offit and Kathleen Seidel object or not (and boy, do they). After reading Offit's book, I will say this: I have a hunch why Seidel reacts to this so personally and so vociferously.

First it's worth restating where I'm coming from. My research on the earliest cases of autism -- the 11 children described in Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact, written in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner at Johns Hopkins -- has convinced me that autism was a new disorder that was triggered by the commercialization of ethyl mercury, in the form of thimerosal, starting about 1930. All of Kanner's kids were born in the 1930s, and Kanner -- the dean of child psychiatry, the one man who had seen it all -- described autism as "markedly and uniquely different from anything reported so far."

And how was ethyl mercury commercialized? In fungicides and in medical products. I've written at length (see Mercury Rising on our home page) about a link in those early cases to ethyl mercury fungicides. Those fungicides were banned long ago for good reason, but thimerosal continues to be used -- inexplicably and unforgivably -- in vaccines and in many different eye-care solutions. To see just how many, check out the FDA's list HERE.

Offit describes Seidel moving to New York City "where she met her future husband, a guitar player. She worked for Project Orbis, a flying ophthalmalogic surgical teaching hospital. …"
Whoa. A flying ophthalmalogic surgical teaching hospital? I suppose it's possible she just booked their flights and never set foot on the plane, but assuming she was part of the team, I strongly suspect Kathleen Seidel was exposed to thimerosal occupationally. Just for example, a study from 1970 is titled "Bacterial cultures from donor corneas. A study of eyes treated with thimerosal solutions prior to corneal grafting." Sounds like an opthalmalogic surgical procedure to me. And in the closed space of an airplane, you have to think anything toxic would circulate and re-circulate almost endlessly. We all know how easy it is to catch a cold on a plane; how much mercury can you catch in an airborne surgical eye hospital that exposes you to thimerosal?

Laugh me off if you want, but I have spent a lot of time looking for plausible links between parents' occupations and autism in their children, and I know them when I see them. If Kathleen Seidel chooses to talk about her occupational background with Paul Offit, and I pay $25 to read about it, I get to connect dots just like any other observer. Why should I write about everyone else and leave her out?

Nor am I the only one to think occupational chemical exposure is relevant in parents of children with autism. In the 1970s Dr. Mary Coleman, a Georgetown University researcher, found that while only 1 percent of all occupations involved exposure to chemicals, about 1 in 4 parents of autistic children had such exposures. She said that was worth pursuing -- though no one did, and the idea that autism was genetic soon came to the fore. Kathleen Seidel would certainly make the cut as someone in that statistically significant group of autism parents with an occupational exposure to chemicals.

The overlooked, uncomfortable but undeniable truth is that chemicals are implicated in autism from the beginning. Among those first 11 cases, the very first child to show up at Johns Hopkins in 1935 was the son of a chemist at the patent office. (Seidel's own father, Offit says, was a chemical engineer. More background toxicity?) Then came the plant pathologist, the mining engineer, the forestry professor, the doctor ... oh, never mind. The gene-iacs aren't listening anyway.

What I find so interesting is the vehemence with which Seidel attacks the thimerosal idea and its advocates. It's not just that those who disagree are wrong, it's more personal than that -- "Did it ever occur to you that someone might object to having their family member labeled as inherently toxic?" Well, they might object, but that doesn't have any bearing on the truth.

Nor is anyone with autism actually harmed or damaged in Seidel's universe; they're just differently wired in ways that must be honored (her Web site is neurodiversity.com). I'm for honoring everyone, but I'm also for facing the fact that autism is an environmentally triggered disorder that can be understood, prevented, and treated. People like Kathleen Seidel keep this from happening.

Seidel is smart and informed; she must know by now that she was working with ethyl mercury. If so, she clearly has concluded it did not cause her child to develop autism (she might reasonably have been expected, though, to share that exposure with the neurodiverse fan base who cling to her and to the genes-made-me-unique gestalt). No wonder people who keep raising this simple idea of ethyl mercury -- a stupid molecule -- causing autism are simply intolerable to her. No wonder she hates that I keep looking for chemical exposures in early cases as the key to the epidemic. ("How many more of Dr. Kanner’s patients do you have in your sights?" she asked me three years ago. The answer is, all of them, and all of their toxic exposures, and I'm getting there.)

No wonder she hates David Kirby's Evidence of Harm: "I thought maybe this guy is just really naïve. … But does he realize there are a whole lot of us out there … who are kind of offended at the willingness of certain people to go on beating this drum saying that all autistics are poisoned?"

I'm sure she's more than kind of offended. It must be awful to keep hearing that.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

[Jarrad]

I would still like to see a single study that links autism to vaccines.

Seems most of the ones that claim to do so don't hold water when more than a cursory glance is given.

Even in light of a single study that does show a link... it would need to be very clear and free of compounding factors or at least lay them out very clearly.

With all the evidence against it, why do people still claim these vaccines cause autism?

[Belinda]

Riley's Mom - My correction was only that Thiomersal had been removed in 2002 in the US and in 2000 in Australia (I'm Australian). Both countries continue to see increases in Autism reported. It is interesting that in the 90's and early 2000's you only ever heard about how mercury in vaccines was the cause of Autism, but now that has been removed and autism is still rising suddenly it's other toxins as well. What is even more interesting is that the so-called toxins that people like yourself seem to be concerned with are actully found in much greater amounts in your own home and on your own street corner than in the miniscule amounts your are concerned about in the vaccines. Formeldehyde for instance - is given off in much greater quantities by the couch that you sit on whilst you feed your baby, than in any of the injections she/he may have. I too am a mother and am concerned deeply about the health of my child, however I don't think (and I use the word advisedly) that scary lists of toxins (and calling people toxic) is going to help achieve greated levels of health and safety for anyone. Only strong peer reviewed, replicated and double blind science studies can do that.

[rileysmom]

To Belinda... I am not in the camp of mercury is the only cause of autism. I believe that the whole schedule is to blame.
***When Kathleen may or may not have been exposed to mercury because of her job...that may have been a factor but I believe, not the whole reason. I believe I am toxic (my fillings in my teeth tell me that I am. Not to mention I worked in a machine shop for a number of years working with all sorts of metals including barilium). I know I'm toxic and I know my husband is too. He spent 7 yrs in the US Army and was shot up with every vaccine known to man and then some when he went off to Korea in the 90's. So whether Kathleen wants to admit it or not, she probably is toxic. I know her mouth and the things that come flying out of it are.
So, before you try and call me on the whole mercury thing in vaccines, let me make this clear...I do not believe that mercury is the ONLY deciding factor in autism. There are plenty of other evils in vaccines.

[rileysmom]

Craig,
You said it all. Glad to know there are people in this blog that have my and my son's back when push comes to shove.
I'm tired of the main stream medical community sticking their fingers in their ears and saying "la la la la...can't hear you." I bet when my lawyer files the case against the doctor that used my kid as a guinea pig...that doctor may perhaps start hearing something. I'm sick of being crazy and the worst part is, if you think you are crazy then they (vaccine thugs) are winning. They've made this into a battle of epic size and then they don't expect us to fight back? We know the questions and no one is willing to answer them.
What I wanted was someone to honestly and fairly answer my questions but instead I got a fight. What are they trying to hide then??? They are the ones that got all "scrappy" to begin with and got their panties in a bunch from the start. When someone reacts that way then you know there is something to hide.
But then, I'm preaching to the choir again aren't I?

[rileysmom]

Belinda: I must correct myself - thimerasol has been removed from childhood vaccines since 2000 in Australia.

Funny now it went from the USA to Australia in a matter of one day. When you were so possitive it was the USA not even 24 hrs ago. Pardon me if your argument holds no water with me.
What are the autism rates in Australia? Does anyone know? Because I'm now curious.

[Craig Willoughby]

Rileysmom said:
"I get your point about trying to be nice but "I'm not ready to make nice yet""

We are past being nice. All of these parents here are sick and tired of being ridiculed, bullied, insulted, scorned, and sneered at by "mainstream" medicine because we have proof that our children were injured by vaccines. We are tired of being stonewalled, lied to, and told that we are ignorant and don't know what we are talking about by the very doctors who caused our children's conditions. I am THROUGH with being nice! If the vaccine-thugs want to come on here and have a civil discussion, I'm all for it. But when they come in here and spout their hatred, their ignorance, their lies, and then complain about how we are making fun of one of their thug ringleaders (we're not...Dan's article was simply an observation, not meant to be insulting in the least to Ms. Seidel), then I take exception and call a hypocrite a hypocrite. Treat others like you want to be treated. Well, to me, these idiot vaccine-thugs want to be treated like they treat us, so I am happy to oblige them.

[rileysmom]

Darless wrote: There seems to be great anger and animosity. That too is understandable considering the dramatic rise in Autism.
Each of us wanting/searching for answers NOW! Are we being heard? Is anyone listening to our concerns? Is the Government doing EVERYTHING they can to understand Autism?
***I'm not digging at you because of your opinion because you are sure entitled to your opinion. But that is it...there is a ton of anger and animosity. I personally do not feel like I'm being heard. So yep, I guess I am angry at this point. If you knew everything that has happened to my son at our "trusted" peds doctor, you would understand my anger. I know that my son was poisoned by vaccines and was diagnosed with autism. So when I hear that vaccines don't cause autism, it makes my blood boil.
When your child is diagnosed with autism as severe as my son's, and I don't know about anyone else but there are stages of "mourning" just like a death. First there is anger, then denial, then you fell like "I can make him better", and finally there is acceptance. MY child is not dead but some of the dreams that I had for him are. At risk of sounding like a 3 yr old, it's not fair. Why my child? Why Kim's children? Why Andrea's children? The list goes on and on because I feel like I'm not being heard. Because just the other day, The furnace guy came to tune up our furnace for the winter and he has 2 kids in his family, and the guy that came to lay my carpet 3 weeks ago has 2 in his family and the lady down the street has 1 in her family, one of my best friends from high school, her nephew was just diagnosed. My own nephew was diagnosed before my son. I'm not looking for these people, they come to me and it breaks my heart that "we" are a dime a dozen now.
I know I sound cynical and maybe this might be a new "stage" of mourning but I don't think Obama nor McCain are going to really do anything for our children. I don't want to vote this year because I don't like or trust either one of them.
Unfortunately, yes, I have anger and animosity and no one in the government is really truly listening because it really truly doesn't affect them like it does those of us in the trenches. One could argue that Ms Palin may have a clue, but she hasn't even gotten to "know" her son yet. To really be in the trenches of Down's, to know what her child is going to face everyday as he grows. My grandfather, wise Pennsylvania coal miner that he was, said you can put lipstick on a hog but it's still a pig. She doesn't sway a vote from me because I know she was put up there as a patsy.
So yes, you're damn right I have anger and animosity. I'm tired of people that insult my intellegence and try to make me out to be a crazy person, when I have a child that was vaccine injured who was diagnosed with autsim living in my house. Vaccines don't cause autism???? I beg to differ.
I get your point about trying to be nice but "I'm not ready to make nice yet".

[Darless]

Reading these blogs is very disturbing. While I agree that we all are entitled to our own opinion, There seems to be great anger and animosity. That too is understandable considering the dramatic rise in Autism.
Each of us wanting/searching for answers NOW! Are we being heard? Is anyone listening to our concerns? Is the Government doing EVERYTHING they can to understand Autism?
At this point ANYTHING can and may be the underlying factor in Autism.
Enviornmentally babies are exposed to many things directly indirectly. Nano-Particles. The Mercury in Flu shots. Even their very first food sources.
There are too many kids being diagnosed to be considered genetic, although as the author has mentioned children are susceptable to exposure while in-vitro. If a mothers blood is contaminated then the fetus will be affected.
We need to stand united in our approach to find the puzzle piece that is missing.
Our voices need to be heard by the government. We want/need answers NOW!
These/all children are our future leaders.
Each child with Autism is connected, As parents, family of these children we have to stand strong and defend their rights.
While we are searching for the underlying factor of the cause of Autism, we need additional funding by the Government to give all of these children the therapies they need.
I know this has traveled off the subject, but I wanted to stat my opinion........Thanks

[belinda]

"vaccines haven't contained thimerasol since 2002"

Posted by: Kelli Ann Davis

I must correct myself - thimerasol has been removed from childhood vaccines since 2000 in Australia.

[Kelli Ann Davis]

"I take offense to people that use the line "vaccines haven't contained thimerasol since 2002" and insult my intelligence...baby."

rileysmom:

tou-frickin-che'

That was classic!

[rileysmom]

Belinda wrote: You do know that thiomersal has been out of all paediatric vaccines in the USA since 2002 and autism rates are still climbing, just like in other countries such as the UK and Japan.
So in other words, the flu vaccine (ya know, the one that contains mercury and the mercury free one is in such short supply, you have to kill to get it?) and the DTap shots **peds vaccine** that still contains mercury. By the way, anyone under the age of 18 yrs in the eyes of medicine are still considered PEDS. Those DON'T count then. These are given to children being the pharma companies can't seem to get their heads out of their asses long enough to realize/know these are STILL causing harm.
I think it's truly HILLARIOUS that you take offense to the word "baby". I take offense to people that use the line "vaccines haven't contained thimerasol since 2002" and insult my intelligence...baby.

[Cherry Sperlin Misra]

Why do people always pull the U.K. and Japan out of theAUTISM IS INCREASING! hat. Do they have no idea how much mercury is in the fish in Japan. Japan is the absolute home and hearth of mercury poisoning. And has anyone made a list of the other sources of mercury in Japan. There might be some surprises there. Now lets go over to the U.K.- the land that has burned coal for how long? And they are still burning it. Please pay attention here- Mercury does not just go away! It does not degrade. It piles up in the soil and the cows eat it in the grass and pass it to you through the milk. It goes into the oceans which are a terrific source of fish and chips- which is like a McDonalds hamburger - in popularity in the U.K. Hmm- wonder if any of those public health people in the U.K. who hate Andrew Wakefield for harming children ! have got any data on how much mercury is in the most popular fish eaten there? and has anyone looked for other sources of mercury, some of which may be increasing.

[Get it belinda?]

"As for the topic at hand, I think Kathleen has every right to ask for an apology - for being called "toxic" and for having false and misleading information printed about her."

Hey belinda. Do we want to talk to Seidel about the false and misleading information she spread about Dr. Boyd Haley? Did she ever get around to apologizing to Dr. Haley for that? Not sure how exactly to use the word TOXIC around here. Its not just the mercury that can make you toxic it seems.

[MinorityView]

Belinda wrote: "You do know that thiomersal has been out of all paediatric vaccines in the USA since 2002 and autism rates are still climbing, just like in other countries such as the UK and Japan."

It is precisely this sort of hair-splitting dishonesty which makes people distrust the pro-vaccine cohort. So all the children who are receiving the flu vaccine aren't being filled with toxins because it isn't a pediatric vaccine? And the unborn babies whose mothers receive a flu vaccine are perfectly okay because it isn't a pediatric vaccine? Give us a break, dear.

[And the Whining Continues]

"As for the topic at hand, I think Kathleen has every right to ask for an apology - for being called "toxic" and for having false and misleading information printed about her."

So it's perfectly ok for her and the rest of the vaccine-thugs to slander, disrespect, and ridicule Kim, JB and Dan (and indeed, anyone else who has a different viewpoint than they do), because they are "science and evidence-based."

So, when are we going to get an apology? And, did you even read the post? Did you even look at what Dan was talking about? Of course not; you just saw "Toxic."

Get over it.

[Roosmama]

the question of whether or not Ms Seidel ever set foot on this plane may be moot, as I understand it mercury is so toxic that the ophthalmologists who did come into contact with it could carry tiny amounts or vapors on their clothing or body, so that simply being in casual contact could pass the mercury around. We aren't talking about a substance that needs to be slathered on and rubbed in to cause injury, we are talking about a substance so toxic that minute amounts that would seem undetectable can cause serious injury.

It would be very interesting to see the relative rates of autism and other mercury poisoning issues in ophthalmologists, dentists, others who have worked with mercury, and people whom they have come into contact with.

This is just about getting to the truth, not about making people feel good. The truth has no obligation to be convenient, kind, or inoffensive. Whether or not I am toxic (or anyone else) is purely a matter of biochemical fact that can be established by testing. It is irrelevant how I (or anyone else) may feel about the biochemical reality in my body.

[belinda]

Posted by: Ohgivemeafrickin'break
" Belinda, Age of Autism elects to moderate, as do some other Autism venues:
...
Welcome to the world of civil discussion.
Respectful debate.
Presidential debates are moderated baby.
Get up with it."
Perhaps I didn't express myself well enough. I have watch others comments get taken down, or the commenter banned from blogs/boards simply becuase they express different viewpoints. From what I have seen it happens more often on the "woo" or the "anti science " side than not. I agree that spam and advertising should be removed, but I don't feel that the "author" should have to "approve" a comment. What if I want to say something the author totally disagrees with? I continually hear how proud you and your countrymen are of your "free speech"...having to have commments approved is not free.

By the way, I am NOT your "baby" and apart from how it impacts the wider world, I am not particularly involved in your presidental election.

As for the topic at hand, I think Kathleen has every right to ask for an apology - for being called "toxic" and for having false and misleading information printed about her.

[Terri Lewis]

Gatogorra,

Your comments about intoxication asognosia are right on the mark.

In addition to the drunk who thinks he's sober enough to drive, I can think of another example (other than autism): Alzheimer's disease.

My mother suffered horribly from Alzheimer's and eventually died of it--which is to say, she was slowly (and then more quickly) overcome by the poisons in her body, foremost being mercury in her teeth (almost all had metal fillings) and her annual flu shots (before I knew any better).

She was skin-and-bones thin, and more profoundly anxious than anyone I've ever seen, but she never lost speech completely.

Even toward the end, when she was quite thoroughly out of her mind, she had only the dimmest awareness that something was wrong--"I'm not going crazy, honey, am I?" she asked me once.

The people who claim the mercury is out of the shots "now" or "since 2001" or whatever year comes to mind--they make me sick.

Mercury in flu shots is doing tremendous damage, especially to the young and the old and the most vulnerable among us--and for nothing, for absolutely no good reason at all.

Terri Lewis

[Gatogorra]

New and interesting term in the newish field of pharmacotoxicology (google it and note the first study which crops up is on the effects of drugs on mitochondria):
"intoxication asognosia" or the inability of the mind to register that it is intoxicated while actually intoxicated. Sort of like the drunk who thinks they aren't and that they're okay to drive but on a much more profound level.

[QuoVadis]

Leila said, "Calling a person "toxic" on your website shows the type of disrespect and bad journalism that you won't find on Kathleen's, because she in fact does investigative research and checks her sources."

If Kathleen Seidel is toxic, how is that disrespectful? My sister-in-law couldn't stand for her diabetic daughter to feel different from her peers so she let her daughter eat everything they did (when she wasn't so sick that she was bedridden, which was often not surprisingly)& just kept monitoring her insulin levels very closely. She died at the age of just 19 from diabetes complications.

Should her mom have been more concerned about the label or the actual condition? I think most of us would have moved past the label and focused on the condition.

OTOH, Ms. Seidel may do 'investigative research & check her sources', but as she so often accuses those she disagrees with (in a very toxic manner - but now I am speaking figuratively rather than literally like Mr.Olmsted), she very much appears to do so with a predetermined agenda rather than an open mind.

For those of us who are watching both sides & trying to sort thru all the emotional baggage on both sides to find the truth, the only thing that is clear is that those who insist that the answers to these issues are obvious (one way or the other) are probably the ones furthest from the truth...