Re: Article on fish - mercury - long

[Guest guest]

I thought I would share this as we recently had a discussion on " is fish

safe " . Halfway through the article the doctor notes that one patient who

had high mercury levels didn't eat fish, but took fish oil supplements. And

I am wondering, does anyone one else here remember " playing " with mercury in

grade school...mercury that came out of a thermometer? I do. FWIW

>>Mobile Register

>>

>>Doctor links ailments to consumption of mercury laden fish

>>

>>Internal medicine specialist and her patients say they see direct

>>relationship between fish consumption, high mercury levels and bizarre

ailments

>>

>>10/20/02

>>

>>By BEN RAINES

>>Staff Reporter

>>SAN FRANCISCO --Jane Hightower, one of San Francisco's leading internal

medicine specialists, a physician to rock stars, actors and writers, was at

a loss to explain the unusual ailments afflicting her most health-conscious

patients. Heart tests, CAT scans, spinal taps and blood

>>work showed only that the patients took good care of themselves. Yet

clearly they were sick.

>>

>>A surgeon had tremors so bad she was afraid she'd have to give up

operating. A geophysicist said he couldn't think anymore and was unable to

do even simple subtraction. A mother, father and child living on a ranch in

the rolling hills of wine country were losing their hair.

>>

>>Ultimately, there were about 200 patients, dotted all over the hills

around San Francisco, most enjoying the good life complete with nannies and

private yoga instructors and sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

>>

>>They were scientists, surgeons, CEOs, psychiatrists, wine-makers, writers

and children, and the only thing they seemed to have in common were the

persistent symptoms -- including severe memory loss, depression and a

strange metallic taste in their mouths -- that might have a hundred causes

but would not respond to any treatment.

>>

>>Now, in a diagnosis rattling experts in San Francisco's medical community

and beyond, Hightower has determined that all of those patients were

suffering from mercury poisoning, and the mercury came from the fancy fish

they ate.

>>

>>She was set to present a paper describing her findings Saturday at a

Vermont conference called " Methylmercury Contaminmation in Fish: Human

Exposures and Case Reports, " sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of

Pediatrics, among others.

>>

>>The paper has been reviewed by her scientific peers and will be published

in Environmental Health Perspectives, a medical journal produced by

theNational Institutes of Health.

>>

>>Last year, Mobile Register-sponsored testing of 65 fish consumers on the

Gulf Coast revealed that many had mercury levels some five to 10 times

higher that the EPA's safe level. But would people with such mercury

concentrations actually suffer ill effects? The scientific data was not

definitive.

>>

>>Hightower believes her work cuts through many of the ambiguities, and

should cause concern anywhere that people eat large predator fish such as

grouper, tuna, amberjack and swordfish.

>>

>> " Jane's patient base is quite convincing in terms of exposure, " said Kate

Mahaffey, the EPA's top official regarding mercury, who has visited

Hightower's clinic. " Now, it's time for scientists and physicians to study

the effects she describes. In the exposure range she describes, we simply

don't have a lot of published medical evaluations. "

>>

>>Hightower and her colleagues have linked sometimes devastating health

problems to the consumption of tuna, Chilean sea bass, grouper and other

popular fish known to have high levels of mercury in their flesh. Some women

were found to have transferred excessive mercury to their infants solely

through their breast milk.

>>

>>Treating patients with elevated mercury levels since 1999, Hightower and

doctors working with her observed a suite of health effects including

depression, loss of scalp hair, metallic taste, headaches, arthritic pain in

joints, irritability, tremors, and numbness and tingling in hands and feet.

She also described cognitive problems such as pronounced memory loss,

confusion and difficulties in talking. In some cases, those problems were so

severe they interfered with the ability to earn a living or attend school.

>>

>>In every case, the doctors say there have been dramatic improvements in

the health of patients within a few months of cutting fish from their diets.

>>

>> " The symptoms my patients were reporting are consistent with symptoms

reported in medical literature from around the world when it comes to

mercury poisoning, " Hightower said. " I'm just a doctor that happened onto

this, but it's so clear. When we pulled fish out of the diet, the mercury

levels came down and the symptoms went away. In medicine, that's about as

good as it gets for proving something is the culprit. And we've seen it over

and over again. "

>>

>>Alan Stern, a New Jersey researcher, noted mercury authority and a member

of the National Academy of Sciences, said he would have a " healthy

skepticism " when looking at Hightower's clinical findings at this weekend's

conference.

>>

>>He also warned that the satellite of symptoms described by Hightower's

patients could have a number of causes.

>>

>>

>>Still, he said of Hightower's findings, " I believe this is possible, but

we don't have a lot of data. I'm not aware of any data that addresses the

effects of low level adult exposure, so I'm very curious. "

>>

>>Hunting for symptoms:

>>

>> " 'You're crazy,' that was the most common diagnosis of these people before

their mercury levels were known, " Hightower said. " They had all these

symptoms and it looked like they were making it up because no one could find

a reason. "

>>

>>Hightower admits that she stumbled onto the fish and mercury connection

after the ranch family members losing their hair were referred to her by Dr.

Kathy Fields, a dermatologist who works in Hightower's medical group. " I had

heard on National Public Radio that heavy metals could make your hair fall

out, so I ran a metals test on them, " Fields said. " I called Jane and said,

'I've got this wild mercury level, see what you can do.' "

>>

>>The family had extensive environmental testing performed on their

property, searching for a mercury source in their well water, on their land

and in their home. There was no mercury to be found.

>>

>>On a hunch, Hightower asked about their diet and discovered they ate a lot

of seafood, particularly big fish such as tuna and swordfish.The wheels

turned and Hightower picked up the phone and started calling some of her

patients.

>>

>> " I'm driving down the freeway and Hightower calls me and says, 'How much

fish do you eat?' It was the weirdest thing, " said Will , the

geophysicist forced to quit work when his symptoms were at their worst. " I

was eating tuna all the time, for lunches, business dinners. I was eating

sushi a lot and canned tuna several days a week as a snack. I told her and

she said, 'I think it's mercury.' " Among patients who showed mercury-related

symptoms, 's situation was the most extreme. But a few ailments were

common to all.

>>

>> " The metallic taste, that was ever present, " said . " My speech was

severely impacted, slurred, so was my memory, my balance. I couldn't watch

TV because I became dizzy. I was always losing my car. I had tremors. I was

always tired. I couldn't concentrate. "

>>

>>Hightower told to cut fish out of his diet and he started getting

better almost immediately, though it has been a long, slow process.

Neurological testing has revealed that he suffered permanent damage to the

parts of his brain that control executive functions. Doctors said the type

of brain damage has is almost exclusively associated with heavy metal

exposure.

>>

>>Doug , the San Francisco psychiatrist who treated for

depression, said routinely left his keys or jacket at his office after

their sessions and frequently got lost in a city he has lived in for

decades.

>>

>> noted that got progressively better as the mercury left his

system.

>>

>> " That is the most logical culprit, " said as a cable car clanged

past his row house office. " The fish seems to be the most likely agent. "

>>

>>He has treated a number of Hightower's patients.

>>

>> " For someone to come in with major cognitive problems like Will had, we

always look for treatable causes. At the bottom of a long list of potential

things are pesticides and heavy metals, " said. " At this point, if

people eat significant amounts of fish, they should be tested -- if you have

a depression that doesn't clear up quickly with traditional treatment like

Prozac, if there are cognitive deficiencies. Some people just feel low. They

may not be melancholic, tearful or suicidal, but they have a pervasive sense

that they can't function. "

>>

>>A plastic surgeon, who spoke to the Register on condition of anonymity,

had symptoms similar to 's, though she rarely ate fish. In fact, her

seafood diet was limited to fresh tuna steaks two or three times a month,

she said. Yet her mercury level was six to seven times the EPA's safe level.

>>

>> " My hair was just falling out, " said the surgeon, who described herself as

a " meat and chicken kind of girl. "

>>

>> " I had tremors and numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, " she said.

And I had serious memory problems. I've always had an excellent memory,

that's what got me through medical school. But all of a sudden, I couldn't

remember who I had operated on the week before. Literally. "

>>

>>Hightower made her give up the tuna, and the mercury level came down

within months. The surgeon said the symptoms just disappeared.Not all of the

patients were adults, and Hightower and Fields said the effects in children

may be the most long-lasting.

>>

>> " In an adult, you can have a recovery, because the brain is already

formed. But in a child, mercury affects the migration of nerve cells, and it

kills them. It's tragic. We're talking about permanent damage, " Fields said.

>>

>>Recently, articles in national publications have noted an increase in

autism among children, an increase some have linked to mercury contamination

of a preservative -- Thimerosal -- commonly used in vaccines. Hightower said

that among the children she has treated, Thime rosal was ruled out as a

possible source of mercury, either because the kids had never received it,

or because it had been several years since their vaccinations. All of the

children, however, had been exposed to fish known to be contaminated with

mercury.

>>

>>A 7-year-old boy who ate canned tuna, fresh tuna and king mackerel

regularly from the age of 3 was found to have a mercury level 15 times the

EPA's safe level. After eight months without fish, his mercury level had

dropped to within the normal range, but it was too late. Hightower said

extensive neuropsychiatric testing confirmed that he suffered some degree of

permanent brain damage.

After passing all normal developmental milestones up to around age 3, when

he began eating fish, the boy showed a severe decline in mental development.

His mother said he quit socializing with others, was no longer able to

express complete thoughts and couldn't remember classmates' names.

>>

>> " Up until we stopped the fish, he was just completely in a fog. He would

sit there, all by himself, totally lost, " said his mother, who did not want

to be named in order to protect him. " It's just horrifying, because with

better information from the government, we could have prevented this. I was

even eating fresh tuna when I was pregnant, you know. My son's improved,

steadily and markedly, since we got him off of fish, but he's not fully

recovered and I don't know that he ever will be. Still, he can communicate

now, and he can make friends again. "

>>

>>Four-year-old Sophie Waldman lives in Berkeley with her parents, novelists

Ayelet Waldman and Chabon, a Pulitzer Prize winner. Sophie, her

mother said, loves canned tuna and used to eat tuna sandwiches a couple of

days a week.

>>

>> " Sophie was an early walker and an early talker, " Ayelet said, curled up

on a couch in her dark and woody Berkeley bungalow. " Then she sort of slowed

down. She was starting to tie her own shoes and then all of a sudden, she

couldn't do it anymore. And she was sounding out words, then she couldn't do

it anymore. And her hair was really weird. It wouldn't really grow and felt

strange. "

>>

>>When Hightower pulled her off of fish, she got better.

>>

>> " When her mercury level came down, she could tie her shoes again and was

suddenly able to read. She had this huge developmental upsurge, after a year

of being sort of stagnant, " said Waldman, a Harvard-educated former public

defender. " I'm not some Berkeley-mom-food- Nazi. My kids live off sugar, you

know. But, I saw a difference in my kid. Simple as that. "

>>

>>Multiple forms of exposure:

>>

>>Fields and Hightower said they found that their patients were exposed to

mercury in three major ways:

>>

>>-- Adults and children ate popular fish such as fresh tuna, .

>>

>>-- Fetuses were exposed as a result of the mother's fish consumption.

>>

>>-- Infants nursed from mothers with high mercury levels.

>>

>>In the case of one patient, the only apparent source of exposure was fish

>>oil supplement pills.

>>

>>Hightower said symptoms can occur in patients with high mercury levels as

well as in patients whose mercury levels fall within the " safe " range set by

some federal agencies. Although all patients with symptoms had mercury

concentrations in excess of the EPA's safe level, many showed effects when

their mercury concentrations were below the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration's safe level, which is four times higher than the EPA's.

>>

>>She said some patients with highly elevated mercury levels were

symptom-free. Hightower suggested that people may have different thresholds

for mercury in their bodies.

>>

>>

>> " It's important not to get too hung up on the levels. We've found the

absolute mercury level does not correspond to the number of symptoms or

their severity. The symptoms are what's important, and they can occur at any

level, " she said. " Think of mercury like a bee sting. You know, some people

will die from one bee sting. Others can handle 40 stings or 100 stings, but

everybody has a threshold where the bee stings will kill them. What kills

you isn't the bee sting. What kills you is your body's reaction to the bee

sting. I think that's the way mercury works. "

>>

>>Fields said that as more doctors learn of Hightower's work, it's likely

they will begin to diagnose mercury poisoning in patients who eat a lot of

fish and have similar symptoms that cannot otherwise be explained.

>>

>> " Our mercury is no different than anyone else's, " said Hightower. " I'm

just a doctor who happened to discover these mercury levels in my patients. "

>>

>>Similar levels have been documented in research literature in places as

diverse as Washington state, Wisconsin, land, New Jersey and California.

>>

>> " This is afflicting the people who are doing what they are supposed to do,

eating a lot of fish to get those Omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your

heart. The problem is, it turns out these big popular predator fish have a

contaminant in them: mercury, " Hightower said. " It's not how much fish you

eat that's the problem, it's what kind of fish you eat. If you are eating a

fish that is bigger than the pot you are cooking it in, get a smaller fish,

not a bigger pot. "

>>

>>She continued, " People are buying steaks of tuna or swordfish or amberjack

or whatever these days. The steaks have no bones, they are easy to prepare

and the fish taste good. The problem is they have so much mercury...

>>

>> " I've seen in my patients that mercury levels can fluctuate up and down

weekly based on what they ate and what day of the week they ate it. And

guess what? Their symptoms can come and go like clockwork based on when they

ate fish. "

>>

>>Several women in the group were found to have transferred excessive

amounts of mercury to their infants solely through breast milk. One

breast-fed baby had three times the EPA's safe level for mercury by the time

he was 4 months old.

>>

>>Jeanine Harmon breast-fed her child twice a day and fed him salmon and

sole frequently. By the time he was 19 months old, he was found to have four

times the EPA's safe level for mercury. Harmon, whose son is one of

Hightower's patients, said she ate canned tuna a couple of times a week

during and after pregnancy and worries she may have caused her son permanent

brain damage.

>>

>> " He seems fine now, but I'm an elementary school teacher. If he's going to

have cognitive problems, they may not even show up until third grade, "

Harmon said. " It was horrifying, knowing I couldn't get it out of my baby's

body. It's unnerving knowing he had such a high mercury level for so long as

he was growing, when his brain was building. "

>>

>>Dr. Kardos, an obstetrician who works in the same building as

Hightower, was tested for mercury five months after her baby was born. She

had mercury concentrations more than three times the EPA's safe level. Her

infant daughter was twice the safe level, her sole exposure through her

mother's breast milk.

>>

>> " I'm terrified because I know mercury exposure is linked to a lessening of

the IQ, and here I was feeding it to my baby in my breast milk, " Kardos

said. " I had to pump and dump my milk for three months because I didn't want

mercury in my milk. You know, I'm buying fish in good places, it looks good,

and yet it's poisoning me. Clearly the government is not doing its job

here. "

>>

>>Her fellow obstetrician, Heidi Wittenberg, discovered a number of her

pregnant patients had excessive mercury levels and agrees with Kardos that

the government has let the public down.

>>

>> " When my patients ask me if canned tuna is OK, I tell them no. If they

want to get pregnant, I tell them to eat fish once every two weeks. No

more, " Wittenberg said. " They say we're scaring people unnecessarily but the

truth is the government has no idea. Where is the FDA? Why hasn't the NIH

funded a study? If you're finding these levels in average Americans, how can

you not address it?

>>

>> " Here I am, I'm not drinking wine, I'm not doing drugs, I'm not eating

cheeseburgers and yet I'm hurting my baby. These are smart people, doing

heart-healthy things and they are hurting themselves or their babies, "

Fields said. " This is life-changing stuff. "

>>

>>Hightower said that in her view the government can't afford to duck the

mercury problem any longer.

>>

>> " All I can say is I saw this in the field. I'm in the trenches with the

patients. Now, it's time for the scientists to do the big studies and see if

there are correlations, " Hightower said. " It's really sad and distressing.

We don't want to lose our tuna, but if people get ill for a long time and

they cut it out and feel better than they have in years, they'll quit eating

fish. Especially if they go back and eat some and feel sick again. "

[Guest guest]

> I thought I would share this as we recently had a discussion on " is fish

> safe " . Halfway through the article the doctor notes that one patient who

> had high mercury levels didn't eat fish, but took fish oil supplements.

And

> I am wondering, does anyone one else here remember " playing " with mercury

in

> grade school...mercury that came out of a thermometer? I do. FWIW

>

Yes, I sure do

Kris