Phencyclidine (PCP) is also a street drug known as 'angel dust' and it is known to cause fetal brain damage, sometimes presenting as cerebral palsy at birth. It is also one of the chemicals that was found to be most effective at causing apoptosis in brain cells of newborn rats.
4-PC was found in air samples from the US-EPA headquarters in Washington, DC, which had to be evacuated in 1988 due to contamination of the building by carpet fumes. The investigation that followed revealed that 4-PC was preset at 70 parts per billion, which was sufficient to cause irritation of the throat, lungs, eyes and nerve cells, even in adults and neurological symptoms have been quite prominent in many reports of "chemical sensitivity" from carpet fumes. Children are particularly susceptible, but no one has considered carpet and paint fumes to be much of a danger to newborn infants before. In fact, it is commonplace for expectant parents to carpet and paint the nursery as a happy welcome for their newborn child. However the new information on NMDA blockade and nerve cell death makes this a whole new ball-game. The paradox is that it was only a few years ago, 1991, when mercury was removed from indoor paint after a baby died under just such circumstances. It is very possible that this 4-PC and perhaps toluene, another newcomer to indoor paint since the departure of mercury, are sinister culprits in causing childhood brain disease.
Let us not depart entirely from the additional concern that vaccines are also part of the problem. It may be that an initial injury at a critical time, leaves a baby with less reserve with which to cope with additional injuries later. In one study, 17 autistic children were re-diagnosed from home videos and abnormal movements were observed in all of them, starting as early as 3 months. If vaccines are involved, this points to hepatitis, which is given on the first neonatal day, or DPT or hemophilus influenza, which are given at 2-3 months of age in most infants.
Nevertheless, the most common story told to me by parents of autistic children is that the children were developing speech at a normal pace until after the MMR vaccine vaccination between 15 and 24 months of age. I know one such case that lost all speech at age 18 months, then had a partial recovery and was able to start nursery school, and then lost all speech again after the booster MMR vaccine at age 4 years. It would seem that the MMR vaccine can both cause a new injury and/or aggravate an old one.
By Richard Kunin, MD
Peanuts are one of the ingredients for dynamite.