[ RadSafe ] Uranium in the hair of autistic children URGENT

[Steven Dapra]

April 8

         The study proves nothing.  That doesn't mean it was poorly 
designed or conducted, it merely means the study proves nothing.  Can any 
useful conclusions be drawn from a study with a cohort of a mere 80 members?

This journal (Autism), is published by Sage Publications.  Their URL is 
http://online.sagepub.com/.  Sage publishes over 500 journals with a wide 
variety of titles.  One must have an online subscription to read any of the 
papers.  Even the references require a subscription.

         I would like to know what prompted these Kuwaiti researchers to do 
the study.  Abdullahi Fido is in the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of 
Medicine, Health Sciences Centre, Kuwait University.  Samira Al-Saad is at 
the Kuwait Autism Center.

Steven Dapra


Richard D. Urban Jr. (quoting from the abstract below) wrote:

  "...age- and sex-matched healthy controls." ?

What does this study actually prove? Let alone, the claims from the 
original post that Parthasarthy was asking about. Who were the controls, 
were they actual healthy siblings, or just as it says, age and sex 
matched... If not actual siblings, how can environmental or nutritional 
factors be quantified to prove actual increased exposure as causal? 
Perhaps, in theory, it might be more factual that children WITH autism are 
medically prone to concentrate heavy metals in their bodies (specifically 
hair in this case) because of their other ASD medical conditions such as 
immune disorders or phenylketonuria, and not that the metals are the causal 
factor. Not to mention, as it has already been noted here, there apparently 
are no quantified healthy levels for uranium in hair, so were these study 
children ALSO tested via urinalysis or by biopsy to prove ACTUAL uranium 
levels in their bodies, specifically target organs (in this case the 
brain)? Seems to me there are many more questions than answers.

 From the American Autism Society 
http://www.autism-society.org/site/DocServer/EH_asd_and_immune_system.pdf?docID=4750 
"The exact cause of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is not well understood. 
ASD is likely to involve a combination of genetic, immunological and 
environmental factors, and may encompass several diseases with distinct 
origins. Currently there are no biological markers for ASD, and diagnosis 
is based solely on behavioral criteria."...

Richard Urban
Yuma, AZ


  -----Original Message-----
From: Steven Dapra
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Uranium in the hair of autistic children URGENT

At this link I located this abstract with its citation, as follows:
Autism, Vol. 9, No. 3, 290-298 (2005)
Toxic trace elements in the hair of children with autism
Abdullahi Fido Kuwait University, Kuwait, fido at HSC.EDU.KW
Samira Al-Saad Kuwait Autism Center, Kuwait

Excess or deficiency of natural trace elements has been implicated in the 
etiology of autism. This study explores whether concentration levels of 
toxic metals in the hair of children with autism significantly differ from 
those of age- and sex-matched healthy controls. In-hair concentration 
levels of antimony, uranium, arsenic, beryllium, mercury, cadmium, lead and 
aluminum from 40 boys with autism and 40 healthy boys were determined by 
Perkin-Elmer mass spectrometry. The children with autism had significantly 
(p < 0.001) higher in-hair concentration levels of lead, mercury and 
uranium. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the 
other five toxic elements. The ratio between nutritional elements and toxic 
metals among children with autism was within the normal range. The possible 
sources of the toxic metals are discussed. Such testing is informative but 
at present the practical implications in terms of diagnosis and clinical 
management are limited.

END of Abstract.