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