General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Anti-vax asshat RFK Jr. on Dr. Oz, promoting his anti-vax asshat book... [View all]LeftishBrit
(41,453 posts)but frankly one gets a lot more mercury exposure by eating fish. By the way, I do eat lots of fish, and consider that the nutritional health benefits outweigh the risks for most people.
One point about mercury is that children on the whole got a lot MORE exposure to it 100 years ago than nowadays. Mercury was a significant ingredient of many medicines and even teething powders. This was undoubtedly bad for children, and sometimes even fatal, and it is a very good thing that it is no longer the case. However, according to the autism theory (which I'm not accusing you of holding, but has been brought up by others on the thread), autism should have been much commoner in the past than now, if mercury were a major cause. Maybe it was - the condition was not formally recognized before the 1940s, so would not have been diagnosable then - but that would go against the idea of a current 'autism epidemic'.