Autism and Mercury Link - Electric Power Plants?

Some parents worried about their children being exposed to mercury and triggering autism have focused their attention on trace amounts of mercury in vaccine for diphtheria and some flu vaccines. A more likely suspect may be the mercury emitted daily in coal-fired electric utility plants. I found a fairly good research paper on trends of autism diagnosis increases (Tracing Autism Trends: Prelude for an Epidemic? By Julie Herczeg ...
If autism trends continue to rise at the rate that it is, by 2006-2007, ..... “The United States Autism Epidemic: Our Bitter Harvest” The U.S. Autism ...
www.brocku.ca/cmt/mdm4u/asprojects/.../TracingAustismTrends.pdf ) but it did not look into the possibility of mercury from coal-fired plants contributing to a worldwide increase in diagnosing autism. The study did not look at how more doctors knowing how to diagnose autism contributed to the rise in diagnosis either. Study of the two together might give us some good information on how to prevent furt

clipped from blogs.wvgazette.com Power plants ‘not making a dent’ in mercury emissions • Power plant mercury emissions have actually risen since 2000 (the first year this data was reported) in several states, including Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas, and others. AEP’s Gavin Power Plant in Ohio emitted 937 pounds of mercury in 2008, a 115.4 percent increase from 2007. This drastic increase in mercury emissions appears to be due largely to a change in the coal burned at the plant in 2008.