Читать книгу A Thin Place - Jack Peterson - Страница 34

September 5, 1992

San Francisco, CA

The morning spent visiting his grandson only added fuel to a fire already ablaze in Crockett’s belly. He plunked fifty cents into a corner newspaper machine, grabbed the last outside table at the North Beach Restaurant in the Tuscany district, and sat down to wait for Dr. Jeremiah Trent. Thirty minutes early, he said to himself.

The front page of the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed there was change in the air. The presidential election campaign was in full swing and President George H. Bush still enjoyed a commanding lead in the polls for re-election that, until today, most leaders of the democratic hierarchy felt too large to overcome. Bush had been Commander-In-Chief presiding over the Gulf War that became the most decisive American military victory since World War II, and he was using that popularity to steamroll himself into another term. Suddenly, Bush had competition. Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas, was nominated the night before at the Democratic convention in New York City as the Democratic candidate to challenge for the presidency in November. Tennessee Senator Al Gore would be his running mate. Overnight, many democrats suddenly saw victory within their grasp.

While the Democrats had donned their political rose-colored glasses, Crockett could not. He had no such personal optimism. After a difficult morning visiting his daughter’s family, he still had mixed emotions. While he appreciated Elena and Terry’s well-disguised optimism, in his heart he knew their daily battles to maintain some sense of normalcy in their lives most likely futile. He was clear that their future would never include the phrase happily ever after. Elena and Terry’s insistence that the words learning disabled never be spoken in their home was a positive step in trying to give Scott some sense of a normal life, but he was afraid it was not enough. He felt a parental need to remain steadfast and calm, but sitting idly by and offering nothing more than moral support wasn’t going to get the job done. He had an emptiness that was not going away, and he planned to do something about it.

The newspaper’s political banter just underscored the frustrations Crockett experienced during his trip to the Capitol three months earlier. His annoyance with government covered many fronts. Recognizing and labeling the degrees of autism seemed the easy part, but the cause was either very elusive or nobody had bothered to look for it. An added insult was that cure was also never mentioned. The feds only provided statistics about the numbers of those afflicted, never any hint as to why the huge increase in the autistic population over the last thirty years. The feds just labeled them Learning Impaired. It seemed the government position was that their only responsibility was to report results, not seek the source of the increase. If autism were a plague or epidemic, the lack of governmental information on how to treat or prevent the spread of the disease would be met with public outrage. Receiving only shrugs and silence when he brought up the subject, Crockett reasoned that he may have talked to the wrong people in the wrong agencies. While promising, even the alliance he formed with Trent came with no guarantees.

Precisely on time, Jeremiah Trent walked up from behind, pulled up a chair, sat down and ordered a bottle of Perrier. “What do you know about mercury?” he demanded, still disdaining any form of a greeting.

Smiling, Crockett breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Trent worked with facts, not fantasy, and felt obliged to answer his question promptly, admitting he knew nothing about mercury.

Trent dismissed his ignorance. “Before we begin, let me tell you a little story that I think will help keep us focused as we move on. Everything I know, and every theory I have, revolves around mercury so you need to know why I think it is so important.”

Crockett smiled broadly. “I like a good story if it’s told well. That’s the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”

Ignoring Crockett’s levity, Trent moved on. “It’s a bit of a history lesson, but one we can use. Early last year, a research scientist, her name was Katherine, was working in a chromium research laboratory when she accidentally spilled a tiny drop of liquid mercury over her protective glove. She knew the risks. Mercury is second only to plutonium as the most toxic chemical on the planet and that it could kill if you if you got too close, so she had taken all the precautions. Besides the gloves, she was wearing eye goggles and worked under a ventilated hood that sucked up the chemicals fumes. When she accidentally spilled that drop of the mercury, she thought nothing of it. Later, after finishing her project, she removed her protective gloves and gear, washed her hands, cleaned her instruments and went home.”

Trent paused, as if choosing his words. “Now remember. What she spilled on her gloves was just a drop of liquid, a tiny sparkling trace.”

Crockett continued his respectful silence as Trent took a deep breath. He didn’t know where Trent’s story was leading, but he was willing to wait it out.

Trent was apologetic. “Let me shorten this up a bit. About five months after she spilled the mercury, she was working late again in the lab, and she thought she had caught stomach flu. The next morning, she started losing her balance, bumping into doors, that sort of thing. A couple of days later, she couldn’t walk, her speech became slurred and her hands were trembling uncontrollably. The initial diagnosis was that she had a virus, but that seemed awfully vague to her. She knew there was something seriously wrong, so she asked her husband to call in a specialist. A week later, after a series of tests, they had their answer. She had mercury poisoning. Somehow, the little drop of mercury that rolled across her glove had penetrated her skin. Eight months after she spilled that little drop of mercury, Elizabeth died.”

Crockett’s eyes remained locked on Trent. “I don’t mean to be callous, but I assume this has some sort of point,” he offered politely.

“There is!” Trent bellowed. “Katherine was a scientist. She knew she was dying. She urged doctors and scientists to learn everything they could from her accident. Before her accident, virtually nothing was known about the extraordinary dangers of mercury. That little drop of mercury seeped through her glove like a drop of water through facial tissue. What she spilled was dimethlymercury, a substance that is ridiculously easy to order in research catalogs. Obviously, it was more deadly than anyone had imagined. She couldn’t have known how bad the stuff really was. Truth is, no one knew. Saddest of all, by the time the symptoms showed, it was too late.”

Crockett leaned back in his chair “I know you know where you are going with this, but I still don’t understand. Right now, all I know is that you are no fan of mercury.”

“All I can say is that ever since the mining of mercury began it’s been used for all sorts of questionable purposes. Overall, I believe it would have been better to have left it in the ground but it’s too late now. We are all benefiting from both the good and the bad mercury and we have to deal with the consequences. I only told you that little story to draw your attention to the dangers of mercury in general because mercury comes in many forms and even more ways of being exposed to it. I think that the same ignorance displayed in Katherine’s case is happening all over again, just in a far bigger arena. My premise is simple. I believe our children are being exposed to too much mercury.”

Although he was certain that his confusion was obvious, Crockett asked his question anyway. “How do you mean?”

“The problem is mercury is everywhere, not only in medicines. It’s in the food we eat, in the air, the sea, and who knows where else. It is very common and it bioaccumulates.”

Unable to remember the last time he had participated in such a one-sided conversation, Crockett suddenly found himself in unknown territory. He was temporarily at a loss for words. Several seconds passed before he gathered the courage to ask the obvious. “You’ll have to excuse me. When I was in college, the only mandatory science class was biology, and all I retained from that experience was my delight in experimenting with frogs. What the hell does bioaccumulates mean?” he demanded.

“It just means that it mercury builds up in the system gradually.”

“Like eating too many doughnuts?” Crockett joked.

“Sure! Eat too many doughnuts and your body uses what it can for energy the stores what it can’t use as fat. You gain a few pounds. In the case of too much mercury, it’s called bioaccumulation. The problem when you store mercury in your body is that it can become dangerous, even lethal. It is a form of chronic poisoning.”

“Where’s all this excess mercury coming from?”

“Some from our environment, like the burning of coal that eventually gets into the atmosphere or from homes and buildings built with lumber that was treated with mercury as a fungicide. Some comes from fish harvested from contaminated waters. Water dumps and streams around mining areas would be a good example. Eventually, those waters evaporate into the atmosphere and rain collects the molecules and dumps them right back to earth reinventing the problem over and over. It’s a continuing the process from many arenas, not just those.”

Crockett knew a little about fish and mercury poisoning from his congressional days, but was a little hazy on the subject. “But why so much concern with fish?”

“Because, in many countries, fish is a major component of the population’s diet. High mercury concentrations coming from contaminated fish eventually leads to ingesting more mercury than can’t be eliminated. That’s where bioaccumulation comes in. Mercury is a neurotoxin. No matter how you are exposed to it, mercury simply builds up in our system and doesn’t dissolve. Eventually, it could lead to brain damage.”

“You’re losing me here! How does it cause brain damage?”

Trent paused, as if he were trying to think of a way to simplify matters. Then, “Have you ever heard the expression Mad as a Hatter?”

Finally, Crockett felt he could participate in their lopsided conversation. A broad smile flashed across his face. “I only know of the Mad Hatter character from Alice in Wonderland.’

“That’s a start! In the mid-eighteen hundreds, when the book was written, the phrase was common. Hatters were exactly that. They made hats, and Hatters really did go mad. The chemicals used in hat-making included mercurous nitrate. They used it in curing to stiffen the felt. People working in poorly ventilated workshops would breathe methyl mercury in the form of vapor over prolonged periods of time and it accumulated in the brain, resulting in mercury poisoning. Victims developed severe and uncontrollable muscular tremors and twitching limbs, called hatter’s shakes. In advanced cases, hatters developed hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms. Hence the phrase Mad as a Hatter. That’s what chronic mercury poisoning can do!”

Crockett steered the conversation back to Trent’s earlier statement about children. “Well, I am certain our children aren’t making hats, and I can’t believe that they are eating too much fish.”

“I am not just talking about fish! I used that as an example to demonstrate how cumulative mercury poisoning can occur. There’s more to it than that. Environmentally, mercury can be found in many different places.”

“I’m listening.”

“I believe that young children around the world are quite possibly being unnecessarily exposed to dangerous levels of mercury, but the source is not only fish.”

Crockett waved his hand in the air in a mock sense of anger. “So get on with it!

Trent paused, a small smile beginning to form. “Remember, this is just a theory. I believe that we may be exposing our children with small amounts of mercury that in total, over time, can be neurologically devastating. It can even start before they are born. Prenatal toxicity can result in a child with normal appearance at birth but who later exhibits a developmental delay in the ability to walk and/or talk. Because of the long latent period for observable effects, the need for treatment may be recognized too late.”

“So, how are the children getting exposed to all this mercury?”

“Other than the sources I’ve already mentioned, some of it could be coming from vaccinations.”

Crockett was incredulous. “Vaccinations?”

“Yes! If my calculations are correct, and I believe they are, there could be a link.”

Even though he was impressed with Trent’s encyclopedic persona, Crockett was unconvinced. “You’re telling me that vaccinations cause autism?” he challenged.

“Not the vaccinations themselves, but the mercury-based preservative in the vaccines could be a contributor along with all the other environmental factors. To my knowledge, that possibility has never been studied. If the mercury bioaccumulates in small children, the same as it did with the Hatters, it could lead to neurological problems. Autism is nothing more than brain damage, and developing brains are particularly sensitive to mercury. Just the fact that it could be a possibility bears scrutiny. If I am right, we will have done society a great service. If not, all we will have done is kept ourselves busy in our old age.”

Crockett was skeptical. “If your theory is correct, why doesn’t every vaccinated child become autistic?”

“Most likely, it’s genetics. Some children are susceptible to mercury, some not. Sort of the same way certain individuals cannot tolerate alcohol and others seem to be able to drink all night and still go to work the next day as if nothing every happened. Everyone is wired differently.”

“So, you are saying the preservatives are the problem?” he asked cautiously.

“Not the only one, but it is possible! Almost all mandated vaccines are in multi-dose containers with a mercury-based preservative. If they didn’t use the preservative, the vaccine would become so strong it could trigger the very disease it was meant to prevent.”

“What about single dose vials?”

“They are not a problem. A preservative isn’t necessary because the vaccine is opened only once eliminating any chance of the virus becoming stronger and spreading. Multiple dose vials are more practical and less expensive but they must have a preservative to prevent the virus from spreading and becoming lethal. It’s happened before.”

Crockett challenged. “Where?”

“Australia, back in 1928! Several children died when they were all vaccinated from the same vaccine container over a two-day period. The virus became stronger after it was opened. When the second round of vaccinations were given to new group of children the next day it had become so strong it infected some of the children.”“

“And it hasn’t happened since?”

“Nothing has ever been reported.”

“So, what’s all the fuss now?”

“That’s exactly my point! There is no fuss and I believe there should be.”

“Why?”

“Because of a vaccine preservative that was created back in 1930 to specifically prevent what happened in Australia from ever happening again. That’s when a U.S. patent was granted and the use of multi-dose vials for vaccines began. We are using the exact same preservative to this day. It’s nearly fifty percent ethyl mercury by weight. I consider that to be a problem. My personal theory is that if children get too many vaccines in a short period of time, they could be susceptible to too much mercury exposure. Some children may not be able to handle it. Until recently, it hasn’t been much of an issue because children received very few vaccinations. Now the federally mandated program has expanded dramatically. I’m convinced it’s just too damned much mercury for small children to handle in such a short period of time.”

“So you think this preservative in the multi-dose vials has something to do with autism?”

Trent tapped his fingers repeatedly on the table for several seconds, looking as if he wanted to choose his words very carefully. “Yes. I think the vaccinations could be one of the contributing factors to the increases. We are beginning to see more autism because children are receiving far more vaccinations than any time in history. It just makes sense. The mercury is building up. I’ll need some time to develop and research a database to confirm it. I can postulate all I want, but until we can prove the supposition and have it reviewed by competent medical and scientific experts, the theory is worthless. Right now, it’s just speculation. Meanwhile, the world is blindly pumping what I believe to be unsafe levels of mercury into their children believing they are doing the right thing. The mercury issue needs to be addressed now but making that happen is another thing altogether.”

Crockett raised his head slightly, jutting his jaw toward Trent. “How long have you had this theory?”

“Since 1945!”

“What happened then?”

“That’s when the first recorded case of autism was documented. I became suspicious when I read the study.”

Crockett was confused. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he said with a smile. “The compass in my head has been out of order since I asked you my first question. I’m a bit of a slow learner. Are you saying that, prior to 1945, autism did not exist?”

“Not necessarily. What I said was that there was no recorded history of autism. Autism was formally identified in 1945 by a John-Hopkins psychiatrist named Leo Kanner after documenting the case histories of a group of eleven unrelated children. They all had mental disorders that were strikingly similar to each other. Kanner could find nothing in recorded history that compared what he was witnessing. Those children gave him the impression they were trying to escape from reality. What caught peaked my interest was that all the children in Kanner’s study were born after 1930.”

“What’s the significance of that?”

“That’s when multi-dose vaccine vials with the mercury-based preservative came into play. All of the children in Kanner’s clinic studied were under eleven years old, part of the first generation to grow up with the new vaccines that had the preservative. What I find interesting is that the discovery of what was eventually termed autism did not exist until after the mercury preservative was added to childhood vaccines.”

“So you believe that is what’s causing autism?”

“Contributing, but vaccines alone are likely not the sole culprit.”

“What do you mean by that?”

‘Think about it! Kanner wrote his study in 1944. He only found a handful of children in the world with what he decided to label as autism and you could count them on two hands. A few years later, in the 1950’s, autism rates in the country were eventually documented to be around one in ten thousand. Based on that, Kanner should have found millions of children with autism to study. He only had a handful to study.”

“Why was that?”

“Not sure, but I have a theory.”

Crockett leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table and cradled his head. “I’ll bite. I am all ears.”

Trent leaned back and moved on. “I believe there are other environmental issues besides fish that began surfacing and are likely to be contributing factors to the problem. Around the same time mercury was added to vaccines in the U.S., it was also introduced as a fungicide for wood in a lumber mill down in Mississippi. That practice quickly spread through mills nationwide. People began moving into houses unaware that their new homes were laced with mercury used to preserve the very lumber used to build their home. To make matters worse, mercury was also introduced as a seed disinfectant in the agricultural industries all across the country. Mercury was suddenly being treated as some sort miracle compound and nobody bothered to consider the consequences. Hell, mercury has been used for hundreds of years in medicine. The Chinese and a whole bunch of other countries used it to treat a variety of diseases and a huge mining industry was born. In Europe, the Romans used convicts to mine mercury because they considered it to be a death sentence. Most of the prisoners sent to the mines would eventually die of unknown causes. Before penicillin, mercury was even used to treat syphilis and leprosy. Many of those patients were eventually labeled as insane. Looking back, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why.”

Crockett sat back in his chair, realizing that Trent was suddenly proving himself to be a walking mercury encyclopedia. Hesitant to show his ignorance, he decided to jump in feet first anyway. “Then you think the Department of Education’s huge learning impaired increases I showed you two weeks ago could be tied into the vaccination schedule?”

Nodding his head, Trent only smiled.

Crockett persisted. “Convince me!”

Trent didn’t hesitate. “During the fifties the incidence of autism in the United States was around one in every ten thousand births. In the seventies it escalated to one in two thousand births. That’s a five hundred percent increase in just twenty years! The stats you got from the Board of Education confirm that those increases are multiplying as we speak. I believe those numbers will become even more alarming if we don’t do something.”

A nagging question that had been swirling through Crockett’s mind for days wouldn’t go away. He needed an answer. “What brings you out of the cornfields in Minnesota now to see me at this time in your life? You’ve obviously been thinking about this a long time.”

“Simple! Last year, the CDC implemented a new schedule for childhood vaccinations by adding hepatitis B to the inoculation schedule. Even before that change, I felt the exposure to mercury in the vaccination schedule was already dangerous. Hell, mercury is already all over the world. Problem is that it doesn’t break down. It never dissolves or goes away. As the world keeps mining the crap, mercury exposure levels go up every year. A lot of emissions float through the atmosphere to the U.S. from the Far East where they burn loads of coal and that just adds to the equation. Since the Industrial Revolution, mercury levels across the globe have increased dramatically every year and it’s all self-induced by man. With major increases in autism in the U.S. already a problem, adding another series of mercury-laced vaccinations to the CDC schedule just pushed my patience level over the top. I can’t do anything about what the rest of the world is doing to pollute the atmosphere with mercury vapors but I sure as hell can do something about presenting my case about vaccines and mercury. We’re blindly spinning a roulette wheel with our children’s lives and that doesn’t sit very well with me. I’ve been beating the bushes with the CDC and the FDA for the last year without much to show for my efforts. I was in DC in April when I heard through the grapevine that you were there doing a little homework of your own. I thought we might have a fit. As they say, two heads are better than one.”

The fact that Trent was having trouble with the bureaucrats didn’t surprise Crockett. The Feds might look into such a theory but would want no part of a national exposure to such a hypothetical premise. A mercury scare would cause parents to keep their children away from mandatory pre-school vaccinations leaving the Center for Disease Control with a real challenge on their hands. The CDC’s primary function was to prevent disease and they were doing a fine job, but a mass exodus from mandated vaccinations would put their program back to the stone ages.

When Crockett returned to Angel’s Camp, he found sleep elusive. A simple conversation he had in a Georgetown restaurant during his April trip to Washington DC wouldn’t go away. Matthew Manning’s casual comment about a rumored memo concerning the mercury levels in vaccines supposedly sent to the FDA suddenly had relevance. He needed to tell Trent.