Thoughts on The Age of Autism by erstwhile psychoanalyst, Nancy Mullan, MD

Olmsted and Blaxill's book presents compelling and well documented arguments that mercury is the cause of various well described eighteenth and nineteenth century syndromes, most notably hysteria. Among other things, they assert that several of Freud's famous case studies, the conclusions from which form the foundation for psychoanalysis, were actually mercury poisoning. And I think they are correct. The visual hallucinations experienced by Freud's patients have been routinely associated in psychiatry with toxic as opposed to psychogenic factors. And they all had copious exposure to mercury, one of the few antibacterials known in the nineteenth century.

It's not actually such a surprise that work done 100 years ago can be shown to be incorrect. What is noteworthy is that attributing any serious problem to the medicinal use of mercury is still such a politically incorrect, touchy subject. The mainstream has never wanted to face up to the toxicity of mercury. It has unusual chemical characteristics, as anyone who ever broke a mercury thermometer can attest, that lend themselves to many uses. The serious issue is that humans do not seem to be able to restrain themselves from mining it, bringing it to the surface of the earth, and using it in ways that release it into the environment.

While mercury has useful effects, like being bactericidal, it also is seriously toxic to living organisms in very low doses. This is an inconvenient truth. And once mercury is in the environment, it is well conserved. It shows up in the water, the organisms grown in that water, the organisms feeding on the organisms grown in that water, in the excretory products of the organisms feeding on organisms exposed to it, and back into the water again.

Mercury is the second most toxic element in the periodic table. Only plutonium exceeds its toxicity, yet the use of mercury enjoys significant political protection. The authors attest that, “…Autism is only the latest ‘mystery illness’ with a not-so-mysterious link to mercury, …[yet] mainstream medical groups and public health officials remain resolutely baffled….” We need to help both mainstream medical personnel and the powerful corporate interests behind them with their thinking until they can see beyond the profit motive to the wellbeing of life on the planet.

Great job TACA MA & CHERYL!
Love the Dan & Mark boys too!

Everyone was so kind to my Mom and Dad - thank you. My Mom would like to get involved with TACA Mass chapter. Yay Grandparent Warriors! They aren't in it for glory, awards, politics, empire building or ego - they're in it for Mia, Gianna and Bella. Period.