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Part 1 (continued):

Important New Finding offers clues to autism prevention and treatment

In an exciting breakthrough, Dr. Jill James of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine has documented a unique metabolic profile in 95 autistic children with regressive autism. (James 2004a, 2004b) Regressive autism is a form of the disease in which children develop normally for a certain period before losing previously acquired language or behaviors and being diagnosed with autism.

The metabolic profile in the James study children manifests as a severe imbalance in the ratio of active to inactive glutathione in autistic children, compared to a group of healthy control children (James 2004a, 2004b). Glutathione, a potent antioxidant, is the body's most important tool for detoxifying and excreting metals.

Autistic children have significant differences in every measure of antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress

Source: James 2004b

The James study shows that children with regressive autism have consistently elevated levels of oxidative stress as compared to normal healthy children. Individuals with reduced glutathione antioxidant capacity will be under chronic oxidative stress and will be more vulnerable to toxic compounds that act primarily through oxidative damage, including mercury (James 2004). Oxidative stress plays a key role in several important degenerative diseases of the brain and nervous system, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's disease, and schizophrenia (Shulz 2000, Granot 2004).

Dr. James' findings shift the focus of research from single genes to a broader metabolic disorder shared by the vast majority of autistic children. They also indicate a mechanism by which autistic children would be more sensitive to chemicals that cause oxidative stress and damage their developing brain and nervous system. In another recent study Dr. James found that glutathione protects brain cells from oxidative damage and cell death caused by thimerosal exposure (James 2005). Numerous studies have confirmed the toxicity of metals to brain cells at doses similar to those experienced by vaccinated children (Makani 2002, Shanker 2003, Baskin 2003, Waly 2004, Ueha-Ishibashi 2004).

These findings raise serious concerns about the studies that have allegedly proven the safety of mercury in vaccines. While Dr. James' results do not prove that mercury in vaccinations causes autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders, they significantly strengthen that possibility by identifying a metabolic imbalance common to nearly all autistic children that would make these children poorly equipped to mount a defense against the large doses of mercury they all received via vaccines.

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