Here are some great resources on mercury toxicity. I have had the opportunity of meeting Dr. Boyd Haley. He's a great and courageous man and has a wealth of knowledge about mercury toxicity.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

2 Responses to "Mercury toxicity"

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  Nate says:

  December 5, 2010 at 6:30 pm

  If neurobehavioral spectrum disorder children do not excrete mercury through hair analysis, and you suspect mercury toxicity, how do you confirm its involvement (blood or urine?).
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  adhdwellnessexpert says:

  December 9, 2010 at 7:28 pm

  Hi Nate,

  First, let me clarify that not all children on the spectrum have problem excreting heavy metals. But one study on autistic children found that they did not have much toxicity as measured by hair analysis, because it stayed in the body.

  So, that’s the limit of hair analysis. If it shows toxicity, you can interprete it as either a bad thing because it means they are exposed or a good thing because they are excreting at least part of it. If it’s negative, you cannot conclude that everything is fine, because maybe they are not excreting.

  Blood measures are not great because they usually only give you a sense or acute or very recent exposure.

  Urine sample have the same issue as hair analysis. What if they do not excrete? This is why most docs who do urine testing perform what we call challenge testing. You measure toxins in a urine sample. Then give the child a chelating agent (such as DMSA) and retest urine. The chelating agent will “push” the toxin out. I need to say that this procedure is not without some risk (such as mobilizing metals in a body that has not been prepared).

  Personally, I use porphyrin testing. This is a urine test that measures the impact of metals on the physiology of porphyrins (a biochemical chain reaction that leads to the production of hemoglobin). Porphyrins have various sensitivities to different metals. It does NOT measure the quantity of metals, but to which extent they impact physiology. This test is completely safe.

  Check for more info: http://www.integrativepsychiatry.net/urine_porphyrins_doctors_data.html

  Y.