Presentation to the EPA at Arlington City Hall on August 16, 2012 

10 miles downwind of Midlothian cement plants 

As a home owner living in south Grand Prairie, my family lives about 10 miles downwind from 

the cement plants in Midlothian. Although we have lived there for the past 8 years, I was mostly 

oblivious to the pollution from .ee!'fleAt plants, aside from the seasonal allergies that had manifested 

themselves since moving from Dallas, wRere I haellhtQd il~e!t n•f enti,:Q life. 

However, after the birth of our second child in late 2008, our beautiful son Ziggy, something 

much more ominous occurred that has changed our lives and our views of industry as well as 

government regulation (or lack thereof) ~. Now as I drive up Lake Ridge Parkway across Joe 

Pool Lake and see the enormous amount of smoke in plain view billowing out of the cement plants in 

Midlothian, I am at once startled, saddened, angered, and dismayed. 

regressive autism at age 15-18 months 

Our son Ziggy was a happy, smiling, joyous, normally developing boy until the age of about 15-

18 months when he began to regress into autism. It is inelescrieebiyhard to watch your baby withdraw 

from you - from life -to watch his smile fade into a mute, expressionless look. He would no longer make 

eye contact with us and no longer respond to his name r~f how loud or hOw mar•v times it was 

..r.ep.ea.t~ . And bis..werds'"=-he lost his words and could no longer speak. 

affect of autism on family- emotional and financial 

Of course, this has taken a huge emotional toll on our family. My life has since been devoted to 

researching possible causes and cures for autism and learning all that I could about the disease aRd-how 

it affeets ,Ot eRiy tl=le eraiR, etJt else tRQ bgdy Cai:ISiRg pnysieal paiR to tile cllild that eartiiOt be 

e.x"J)ressea, besa1:1se he is A6 leRgeF-abiQ tg c;;gmm~:~nicate. 

The pain is not only emotional, but also financial. ManymRU~~es-Wt1~!t:tt~IG.CMIU€~~ 

_bankr1:1pt ill tr yi11g to do-everything-tfley caR, as any caring parent would, to help their GAild to bring 

them baek. The bills add up for not only traditional therapies such a speech, occupational, feeding, and 

ABA, but also for biomedical therapies which help to heal body and brain. 

financial impact on society 

And the financial impact on the family extends to society through health care costs in the 

thousands per month and as well burdening our public school system. But it is worth the cost today for 

our children, so that these kids might grow up to be useful members of society and not be a burden for 

the entire lives. This is not an option that these children have chosen. 

genetic component plus environmental factors 

Through my research I have come to learn that, although there is no known cause or cure for 

autism, it is generally agreed upon that there is a genetic and an environmental component. The 
dramatic rise in autism cannot simply be attributed to genetics. The e-~n-irt-eases cet:t*i-not happ_en 

tbroug xplome8-away-6y-tmproved-diagi'Wstk:-methods,otherwise, 

there would be t-housands upen-toot:tsollds-ot..undiagoosed'"3utts~t:rltslnl>Orsociety. Studies have 

shown that-this..is.not..tl:le..case. The curr.ent ratios..of autistic-ehildrenfr:om-the <;:enters for Disease 

Control in-2012-ar.e l~n 88.chlldren-and-t-;n-s4 boys:-Boys-f-ar mor~k-ely-te-eeeome-awt~stic.-as-is.the 

case in our family, whereby our daughter is not autistic, but-our son-is g"'eatly affect-ed. 

affects of mercury poisoning mirror autistic symptoms 

All .of_this brings us to the topic of mercury emissions. For centuries mercury has been well 

known as a dangerous neurological toxin. There is little debate about the devastating affects of mercury 

poisoning. It is also well documented that many of the symptoms caused by mercury poisoning mimic 

the symptoms seen in autistic children iRcludirrgOUtward-physieal-sYfl"'f)toms..sucA-as..sociakvffhdtaWal, 

speech and.Jaoguage ... eficits,.sensofY-al:mermaUt~es,.r~t+tive-meter behav~e s as weU-as-rognit~ve 

impairments. Biological symptoms leading-to outward physrcatmanif~stat-iens-afso--run n paraffel. 

studies In Texas and SF about autism related to proximity to electrical plants and industrial 

manufacturing facilities 

There were two separate studies done in Texas in 2004 and in San Francisco in 2006 using the 

EPA Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) database to compare the rates in autism to relevant pollutants, and 

namely, mercury. In both cases it was concluded that the risk of a child becoming autistic is moderately 

increased when living in an area with higher ambient pollution. 

prevalance of autism in area per ECI case manager 

These studies corroborate what we learned from our Texas Early Childhood Intervention 

coordinator who told us that the prevalence of cases was much higher in our area. 

inability of autistic kids to excrete mercury 

Studies have also been done on autistic children versus normal children measuring the excretion 

of mercury from their bodies. Whereas researchers at first expected mercury levels to be much higher in 

autistic kids, the results were exactly the opposite. The autistic children excreted little to no mercury. In 

retrospect, this makes perfect sense. The autistic kids have a mercury problem because their bodies are 

not good at removing mercury....!hey-are-notet-e-geH:id.of...it..qu.i€~1y enough and levels of mercury 

begin to build up, accumulate in their brains and organs, and become toxic. 

difficulty in diagnosing chronic mercury poisoning 

One of the problems with proving and diagnosing mercury poisoning is that the tests are 

designed for acute or sudden exposure and not a slow chronic exposure. ChFeAi' exposure affeetiAg the 

brain ... aod-OFg<ms Qfl onlf really he seen th~gj, eutop~. Tests have been developed in analyzing hair 

samples and through detox challenge tests, but these are imperfect at best. The only real method to 
determine a mercury problem is through a clinical trial whereby you use a detox protocol and closely 

monitor the results. 

mercury detox I clinical trial 

Our family chose to use the hair test which indicated a mercury problem based on an analysis 

method developed by Andrew Hall Cutler. We also use his method to remove mercury from our son's 

body. This method requires us to administer small doses of DMSA and alpha lipoic acid every three 

hours for three days on and four days off in weekly rounds. Tilisirn:tudes waking up at night-and.wakiog. 

we are willing to continue because we, as well as our son's therapists, have seen very positive results. 

first step - remove source of exposure 

Of course the first step in any type of detox effort is to remove the source of the insult. This is 

why I am here today. Our family cannot do this alone. Our only choice is to stay and fight or to give up 

our cherished home and move. This is our last stand. 

cost of profit 

I realize industry provides a function in society by creating jobs, electricity, and material goods, 

and that industry needs to profit in order to thrive. But what cost are we willing to pay for profit? 

we need your help in removing mercury from our air 

I'm not just here to speak for a group of anonymous, faceless autistic children, 20% of whom 

may never be able to speak for themselves. I'm here on behalf of my son (hold up picture) and my 

family. Our son has withdrawn from us and though he may never fully recover, we are slowly, 

painstakingly bringing him back, but we need your help. 

thank you 

Environmental mercury release, special education rates, and 

autism disorder: an ecological study of Texas 

Raymond F. Palmera,_, Steven Blanchardb, Zachary Steina, 

David Mandelic, Claudia Millera 

Autism Spectrum Disorders in Relation to Distribution of Hazardous Air Pollutants in the 

San Francisco Bay Area 

Gayle C. Windham,

1 Lixia Zhanq,2 Robert Gunier,1 Lisa A. Croen,3 and Judith K. Grether1 

Changing the Course of Autism; Bryan Jepson, M.D.