So, THIS is where the mercury is coming from...

[Eos of the Eons]

Or not. Missing mercury, supposed mercury contaminated high fructose corn syrup/sugars, etc. It's all there.

http://civileats.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/421_2_105026.pdf

Reactions (to do with autism of course)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-crossfield/one-more-link-in-the-merc_b_162202.html


However, the reactionaries still pretend to not know there is a difference between symptoms of autism and mercury poisoning. They ignore the fact that autism symptoms show up at a certain age (and not when some "toxic level" of mercury poisoning is reached-which should be more far more random), and 4x higher in boys (indicating a genetic x-link).

Also, who feeds umpteem amounts of sugary pops and other sugary foods to babies? Autistic traits show up from infancy.

Ah well. Villify the sugar. That, IMO, is not as bad as villifying vaccines.

 

[T.A.M.]

I glanced through the introduction, but right now I have not the time (or want) to go through the entire paper.

A few things I would like to know:

1. On what basis do they make the statement that HFCS is a "significant" source of Mercury in our diet?
2. What type/form of mercury was detected?
3. What is the reasoning or explanation for why some HFCS products contained mercury, and others (like sweetened soft drinks) did not?

That is just off the cuff.

TAM

 

[Eos of the Eons]

I glanced through the introduction, but right now I have not the time (or want) to go through the entire paper.

Me neither.

A few things I would like to know:

1. On what basis do they make the statement that HFCS is a "significant" source of Mercury in our diet?
2. What type/form of mercury was detected?
3. What is the reasoning or explanation for why some HFCS products contained mercury, and others (like sweetened soft drinks) did not?

That is just off the cuff.

TAM

They claim the factory can't account for the missing mercury, a huge amount. I'm hoping folks here that know more about these things can enlighten us. I'll try to dig for some quotes to help ya out though:

A longtime enigma of these plants has been their “missing mercury.”

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22 The nine mercury cell plants operating in 2003 reported consuming 38 tons of mercury, but emitting just eight tons into the environment. What happened to the other 30 tons? The plants cannot account for it.22,23 The five mercury cell plants still in operation reported emitting more than 3,300 pounds of mercury into the environment in 2005.20 Their unreported emissions of lost or missing mercury are likely to be far greater. One estimate is that unmonitored mercury releases from chlor-alkali plants may be nine times greater than the monitored emissions.20​

Where does this missing mercury go? As mercury volatilizes during routine operations, it may end up in the plant’s infrastructure, or on the grounds.​

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Since 1965, approximately 32 chlor-alkali plants have closed in the U.S. and of those sites, 14 are now Superfund sites and 27 are undergoing federally directed corrective action.23 This month’s Environmental Health study suggests that additional tons worth of missing mercury may end up as impurities in the plants’ products, including those like caustic soda that are added to the food supply.​

Our laboratory analyzed for total mercury (not methylmercury). The samples we tested contained levels of total mercury ranging from below the limit of detection (LOD)—which ranged from 20-

100 parts per trillion (ppt), depending on the nature of the sample and the processes the laboratory went through to adequately prepare it—to a high of 350 ppt.
Overall, we found detectable mercury in 17 of 55 samples, or around 31 percent. Quality control measures by the laboratory meant that some items in which initially there was no detectable mercury
on re-analysis were found to have mercury above the LOD. If the latter would have been included our results, we would have found detectable mercury in a total of 20 of 55 samples, or 36 percent.​

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There are tables on page 13-14 of the report. Like I said, I have no way of being able to assess their claims about this food contamination. I just remain unconvinced, even if true, that it has anything to do with autism.​

If anyone would like to review and let us all know what they think of the information, then please have at it.​

 

[Goshawk]

Also, who feeds umpteem amounts of sugary pops and other sugary foods to babies?

It IS possible for kids age 2-5 to ingest large quantities of HFCS in their total diet, just as the chart says. I'm not buying what seems to me an excessively paranoid link between HFCS and autism, but you can't deny that yeah, the average preschooler with drink box in mouth is ingesting HFCS. And some kids drink a LOT of drink boxes.

There is also HFCS in much processed food that's fed to kids, from the obvious things like baked goods, cookies and cakes, to the not-so-obvious things like hamburger buns and ketchup to Spaghettios to that old standby comfort food, Campbell's Tomato Soup.

So it doesn't have to be something as blatantly obvious as "kid with Pepsi", it can be hidden.

 

[tesscaline]

It IS possible for kids age 2-5 to ingest large quantities of HFCS in their total diet, just as the chart says. I'm not buying what seems to me an excessively paranoid link between HFCS and autism, but you can't deny that yeah, the average preschooler with drink box in mouth is ingesting HFCS. And some kids drink a LOT of drink boxes.

There is also HFCS in much processed food that's fed to kids, from the obvious things like baked goods, cookies and cakes, to the not-so-obvious things like hamburger buns and ketchup to Spaghettios to that old standby comfort food, Campbell's Tomato Soup.

So it doesn't have to be something as blatantly obvious as "kid with Pepsi", it can be hidden.

Corn syrup solids are a prominent ingredient in some baby formulas.

Now, I don't know if "corn syrup solids" are obtained from HFCS, or how their obtained from whatever they are obtained from, so that may not be relevant to the discussion.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Sourcewatch has little to say about the group

ActivistCash has a negative review. I've not seen ActivistCash before. It looks interesting but appears to have it's own right wing slant. OTOH, some people say SourceWatch has a left wing slant so between the two of them we can at least see who's funding whom.

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

IATP is a prime example of a nonprofit that engages in “black marketing”: the public disparagement of one set of products in order to turn a profit with the competition. By condemning conventional methods of agriculture, for instance, IATP hopes to drive the American market toward “organic-only” food production, a segment of the market in which its directors hold a financial stake.

In addition to its constant rant against genetically improved foods

Gotta love the framing.


I'm not sure ActivistCash has a fair review. The only products they seem to be promoting on the IATP website are "fair trade" products. These are not profit oriented products like most sCAM products are.

Here's a table of detected PPM mercury in 17/55 tested foods. There is no source for the data but it goes with the main paper.

I eat the cereal bars and the Hershey's syrup. Maybe I should look into this further.

WebMD reviewed the mercury cornsyrup article and got feedback from industry spokes people. It's worth looking at their article.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

From the WA Post, for what it's worth is a bit more background: High Fructose Corn Syrup Meets Mercury

Two studies released this week suggest that caustic soda, when produced the old-fashioned mercury way, becomes contaminated with mercury, which then contaminates the HFCS and ultimately, the food. ...

In the first study, published in the journal Environmental Health on Jan 26, Renee Dufault, a former FDA scientist, found detectable mercury in nine out of 20 HFCS samples from three manufacturers. Her findings led to this conclusion: “with 45 percent of the HFCS samples containing mercury in this small study, it would be prudent and perhaps essential for public health that additional research be conducted by the FDA or some other public health agency to determine if products containing HFCS also contain mercury.”

EH study co-author Dr. David Wallinga was in fact “interested in taking this study to the next step.” Explains Wallinga, who overseas the Food and Health Program at the Institute of Agricultural and Trade Policy in Minneapolis: “Like many people, I hadn’t made the connection with connection of the products. I wanted to find out if one would be able to find mercury in food products made with high fructose corn syrup.”

Last fall, Wallinga and his staff went to the supermarket and selected 55 HFCS-sweetened products (HFCS was listed as first or second ingredient on the label) from the shelves, a variety that includes Pop-tarts, Snapple, Smucker’s Jelly and Yoplait yogurt. Independent lab tests revealed detectable mercury in 17 samples, or 31 percent.

The details of the study are included in a report titled “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” also released this Monday.

Here's the original research from the Journal, "Environmental Health":
Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar

It's an open access journal.

 

[Miss_Kitt]

I'd like to see the comparable products made without high-fructose corn syrup tested for their mercury content as well. Mercury is in just about everything, to some level. Depending on where you live, your mercury 'base' exposure from soil, air, precipitation, can be substantially different. For example, those of us in the Pacific Northwest have to deal with a higher level of soil mercury than much of the Midwest, due to the volcanic activity of the Cascade Mountains.

BTW, per government regulation, the term "high fructose corn syrup" refers to any corn syrup that has had any level of fructose enhancement at all. So the fructose levels can and do vary greatly. I just attended a fascinating lecture on the topic of sugar, HCFC, honey, and the biochemistry of same. The mercury issue was touched on in the Q & A period, and the speaker was not deeply alarmed.

Has anybody looked at the fructose levels and mercury levels in carrot sticks?

Miss Kitt

 

[Zep]

Mercury is in measurable levels coming from the smoke-stacks of coal-fired and oil-fired power and industrial plants. It is measurably higher in the "fall-out" zones around those plants. These levels, however, are barely above background levels, and certainly well below that known to have a physiological effect. The levels of radioactive compounds are way much higher in comparison (there's uranium traces in some coal). And of course the suplhur and hydrocarbon long-chains are hugely more prevalent still. More than that even, fly-ash.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

dup.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

dup.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

dup.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Look at what I posted in #7, Zep & MissKitt:

caustic soda, when produced the old-fashioned mercury way, becomes contaminated with mercury, which then contaminates the HFCS and ultimately, the food. ..

There is something to this charge. How significant is another matter, but I don't think it is total woo. And yes, there are foods with HFCs that had no detectable mercury. Apparently most US manufacturers have changed the processing practice because of the mercury contaminants.

From the WebMD article cited above:

"This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance," Erickson states. "Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years."

Wallinga agrees about the technological shift away from mercury. "If you just look within the confines of the U.S., yes, about 90% of production now is not using mercury," says Wallinga. "The problem is that we don't actually know where our companies are buying their high-fructose corn syrup from ... it's a global industry."

(emphasis mine)

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

OM FSM. All those data base overloads didn't stop my post, only stopped it registering on my end that it went through. Sheesh.