> Children and Parenting > Emotional and Mental Health > learning and behavioural disorders

By now almost everyone knows that in recent years there has been an alarming rise in the incidence of serious behavioural and developmental problems in children. Credible authorities in the United States now claim that approximately 10 per cent of children currently suffer from a definable psychiatric illness. There may be as many children with psychiatric illnesses as there are children who are left-handed! The impact of this trend upon the future of our world is unfathomable.

Autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) are all names given to behavioural and neurological disorders that have become commonplace. While the pharmaceutical industry laboriously searches for the “magic fix,” a growing number of researchers like myself consider these conditions to be largely a byproduct of our deteriorating environment.
Based on my experiences, I have become increasingly convinced that children with psychiatric or developmental disorders are highly sensitive children with special physiological needs. These kids are the “little canaries” of humanity–the individuals in our society whose biochemical makeup places them at special risk of being harmed by the wide array of unnatural and toxic influences of our world.

We can all see clearly the differences in the outer appearances of children. Skin colour, facial features, height and weight all clearly display individuality. However, what research is increasingly demonstrating is that people differ far more dramatically in the inner workings of their biochemistry than they do in their physical form.

For example, approximately five per cent of the Caucasian population is completely missing an enzyme in the liver that is absolutely required to breakdown and excrete a variety of drugs and toxins. If you happen to be one of that five per cent and you are unfortunate enough to be placed on a medication that you can’t metabolize, the drug will accumulate to toxic levels within days and begin to poison you.

Likewise, biochemical individuality greatly determines how a child disposes of and is affected by the constant influx of pesticides, heavy metals and other chemicals that enter the body in minute doses through diet, drinking water and other sources.

Research Sheds Light

Research that addresses biochemical individuality and its impact upon susceptibility to toxins is only in its infancy, but will likely prove to be one of the most important factors in understanding the cause of childhood behavioral and psychiatric illness.

One area of current research that’s likely to help us understand this phenomenon is the work examining the effects of mercury from vaccines on the incidence of autism. It is well documented that most vaccines are preserved with a mercury-containing compound known as thimerosal. Because mercury is so effective at killing living cells, it’s added to vaccines to prevent microbiological contamination.

It has become increasingly clear over the last two decades that mercury is also highly toxic to humans, even in very low doses. Because of this, mercury, which was a common component in many items, has been largely removed from products with the potential to expose humans to this highly toxic metal.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established “safe” levels of mercury exposure for infants, children and pregnant women. The level of mercury in a single dose of most vaccines clearly exceeds the safe levels established by the EPA! And these vaccines are given to children many times over throughout infancy and childhood. Strangely enough, the EPA has no jurisdiction over medical devices or drugs and so the pharmaceutical industry-influenced FDA continues to allow potentially toxic levels of mercury to be administered “therapeutically” to children.

In all likelihood, the levels of mercury obtained through vaccines have no major effect on the majority of children. However, what about those kids who are biochemically more susceptible–the “little canaries?” Research published two years ago from investigators in Atlanta demonstrated that children with autism have extremely high levels of mercury and a wide variety of other toxins in their tissues. Many other researchers also believe that children with attention deficit disorder and other childhood behavioural and developmental problems are also “little canaries” who are much more susceptible to the effects of our toxic world.

Michael R. Lyon is the director of research and education at the Oceanside Functional Medicine Research Institute on Vancouver Island in BC and the author of Healing the Hyperactive Brain.

Source: alive #227, September 2001