Chelation Study Cancelled
So who canned the NIMH chelation study as "too dangerous?" Children are given huge doses of chemotherapy and radiation in a desperate effort to save them from cancer - fully knowing the side effects themselves can be deadly. It's a fair risk most parents are willing to take to help a sick child.
If your child is full of lead, the doctor will chelate him as a standard protocol. (Children.WebMD.) If removing the source of lead and balancing nutrition do not reduce lead levels, or if the blood lead level is very high, chelation therapy may be used. Chelation therapy is a process that rapidly reduces the amount of lead stored in the body. Drugs called chelating agents cause metals like lead to bind to them, and then they are eliminated from the body through urine. Because chelating agents increase the absorption of lead and other metals, it is essential that sources of lead exposure be removed before a person is treated.
But if your child is full of mercury, too bad. The mainstream docs won't chelate him. After all, he might just get better and then all the people who've railed against autism treatments and screamed at us that our kids are "uncurable!" would be wrong.
Read the blip HERE.
John
I'm 5'1" and I guarantee you I can take Peter Hotez,lol!!! Thanks for the laugh!
Posted by: rileysmom | September 21, 2008 at 07:48 PM
Hey Probe,
The reason Peter Hotez doesn't grab a parent and shake them is strictly size.. I've met him, attended a press conference where he lied, stared at him and watched him slither out of the building away from the parents..
By the way he's about 5'6"
Very much like Paul Offit, cornering pettite mothers and screaming at them , when no one is looking. Then running off when a father rounds the corner.
You should know the people you defend better.
Posted by: John | September 21, 2008 at 06:46 PM
Managing Editor's Note: I sent an email to this commenter apologizing for using his first name when I commented back to him. The Probe is welcome to complain for my inadvertent error. It wasn't my intention to out him, as I addressed him in what I thought was a civil manner, by using his name. No harm intended. I'm damned if I publish these comments. And damned if I don't.
Kim, you are an unethical shit. I post under TheProbe to protect my self and my family from the evil doers like (deleted to avoid WWIII.)
You have absolutely no right to "out" me. You call yourself a journalist, but do not act like one.
Age-Of-Ignorance is a far more appropriate name.
As for what Dr. Hotez said, yes, the research money has gone to prove vaccines cause autism, when there is no scietific evidence to even suggest that.
You lack facts and logic, just like you lack ethics.
Why am I not surprised.
Note that if you censor this post, as I expect you will, I will, as usual, post it on several blogs of people who understand your evil.
Posted by: TheProbe | September 20, 2008 at 11:01 PM
"I ALMOST feel like there's some kind of plot to just make the parents of Autism children feel like NO ONE IN GOVERNMENT OR THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT really cares whether our kids get better or not."
above posted by Matt
Matt,
from where I sit, they don't:(
Posted by: kat23 | September 20, 2008 at 03:41 PM
Probe, Cure Autism Now and NAAR had millions and years to move us along. How'd that work out? Autism Speaks has what, $60,000,000 or some such figure, devoted primarily to research, I believe. And you're quoting this doctor as saying that raising questions about vaccine safety is what's holding back his daughter? That's laughable. Sure, blame the discordant group. I'm sure the handful of people with SafeMinds, as opposed to the thousands working hand in hand with AS, Yale Study, U Washington, Kennedy Krieger are not at fault at all for the lack of usable info for autism. No, not at all. Back to SPAM you go. Happy trolling.
KIM
Posted by: Stagmom | September 20, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Censor this one:
Peter Hotez is the Walter G. Ross Professor and chairman of
Microbiology and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University
School of Medicine. He is also the father of an autistic daughter,
now a teenager.
"One of the reasons that I believe that we are at least ten years
behind in providing the right kind of services for autistic children
is because of the distraction that this whole vaccine-autism debate
has caused. It's led to a lack of focus on what's really needed. I
get very angry at a lot of these autism groups, like Safe Minds. It's
so difficult for me not to want to shake them and say, 'Don't you
realize that you're really doing a disservice to parents, not a
service?' And they're so self-righteous. They don't speak for all
autistic parents. They're certainly not speaking for me."
Posted by: TheProbe | September 20, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all. Do we REALLY want a government agency doing this test? They'd either botch it and get the results they want or they'd end up hurting some kids because they didn't boost their nutritional status prior to chelation. ARI or DAN! are the only agencies qualified to do this anyway.
Posted by: Lila White | September 20, 2008 at 09:42 AM
Obtuse MODs: Nice censorship, particularly considering the desperation of your readers.
Managing Editor's Note: Patrick, per our moderation guidelines, we do not allow advertising of products in our comments. Your comment here is rude and offensive to our readers, whose children are in dire straits. Please peddle your hangover cure elsewhere. We don't have the time to party and get drunk, we're too busy with our kids.
Kim Stagliano
Posted by: Patrick | September 19, 2008 at 07:36 AM
Maybe we should think about pitching it as a reality show. Two groups of families dealing with autism. One group does biomed treatments including chelation etc. and the other group doesn't. By the end of the season, what do you suppose the rest of America would see? Of course, no Pharma-sponsored network would dare touch it. Maybe PBS.
Posted by: Garbo | September 19, 2008 at 12:28 AM
Foxnews.com has this story as well, but their version of it has a quote from Rebecca Estepp of TACA. Unfortunately, they also included a quote from Dr. Offit (and mentioned his book). They did not use the word "fringe" until about halfway down the first page.
Posted by: Carolyn M. | September 18, 2008 at 07:30 PM
When I saw this news, I just couldn't believe it. What, are they worried that the study might make our kids' brains not function correctly? HELLO, many parents are going to chelate anyway, so why not test the effectiveness of the treatment. I ALMOST feel like there's some kind of plot to just make the parents of Autism children feel like NO ONE IN GOVERNMENT OR THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT really cares whether our kids get better or not.
Posted by: Matt Kaufman | September 18, 2008 at 05:17 PM
CNN.com now has the story up. The word "fringe" is prominently featured here, too. NO attempt to contact anyone who might think that cancelling the study was a bad idea. Totally unbalanced reportage/press release regurgitation. And there's this, about the proposed study:
"The researchers had proposed recruiting 120 autistic children ages 4 to 10 and giving half a chelation drug and the other half a dummy pill. The 12-week test would measure before-and-after blood mercury levels and autism symptoms."
Maybe it's better that they cancelled it. As we all know, 12 weeks and testing blood levels before and after would do NOTHING to prove or disprove whether it was working. Or to measure mercury burden. What about urinary porphyrin tests before, during and after? For that matter, what about a study just comparing urinary porphyrin profiles in ASD and non-ASD kids?
Oh, and did you know that mercury's been out of all kid vaccines since 2001, except for the flu shot? Because that's what CNN says.
Posted by: Garbo | September 18, 2008 at 03:11 PM
Anne Dachel said:
"Notice the studies they WON'T do: ..
Studies to find the misdiagnosed adults with autism to prove there's been no increase."
You'd think that's one they'd WANT to do - Fombonne et al. go on and on about how there hasn't been an increase.. I actually wonder how many mis-diagnosed adults there might be - and if autism is not only increasing but getting worse (more GI problems, more severe sensory problems, etc), then it's quite possible that his "hidden hoarde" doesn't have the kind of *severe* autism that kids today are getting, but do have autism nonetheless.
Which begs the question - why is it getting worse? Perhaps that's what they don't want to know. Of course, if they did do such a study and DIDN'T find adults.. Out goes Fombonne!
Posted by: Jim Witte | September 18, 2008 at 02:51 PM
From the AP story,
".. other potential therapies for autism.."
WHAT other potential therapies??! Prozac? More Risperdal? Or given that study showing that the atypical antipsychotics have at least as many if not more side effects than older ones ("Risks Found for Youths in New Antipsychotics",http://tinyurl.com/6oeagr, also posted to on ABMD by Teresa Binstock).. Perhaps we'll just go back to good ol' Haldol. Sheesh!
And using the word 'fringe' to describe the mercury-autism theory is not exactly unbiased journalism. But since when was the AP unbiased?
Posted by: Jim Witte | September 18, 2008 at 02:39 PM
I believe that we need another big paradigm shift -- like when the refrigerator mom theory was finally discarded. As long as autism is classified as a mental illness, under the purview of niMh, all we are going to get is more of the same studies of existing patented drugs designed to alleviate symptoms but not cure the underlying pathology. The drugs they're testing are for things like schizophrenia, ADD, CFS, ALS, MS and Alzheimers. So now the researchers want to apply existing drugs for other diseases to autism to see what might stick, instead of testing DMPS, which is not patented but has a profound clinical history of helping autism patients. Imagine if instead they were willing to test DMPS chelation therapy for autism and all those other chronic syndromes -- the pharmaceutical company would lose an entire sector of profit!
Posted by: Garbo | September 18, 2008 at 12:40 PM
"What the FDA approved of harmed my son, what the FDA doesn't approve of has given my son back to me."
Kinda sums it up very nicely - if I might just add to that point:
From the notebook Dr. Nathaniel S. Lehrman, MD, regarding the SSRI conference hosted (ironically?) in Philadelphia in Oct 2002: "The conference amply demonstrated the dangerous effects that SSRI anti-depressant drugs can have. Despite confirmation of that claim in one court of law, and, as compared to the general population, the 68% higher suicide rate among those given SSRIs in experimental trials, the Food and Drug Administration nevertheless claims that it "has made repeated determinations that there is no scientific basis to show the drugs cause violence or suicide."
Last Feb the CBC Radio One show "As It Happens" interviewed Professor Irving Kirsh, University of Hull, regarding his study of SSRI's ( Public Library of Science Medicine).
http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20080226.shtml
Listen to part 1 for the interview with Kirsch (about 8 minutes duration) - particularly the last couple of minutes - where they discuss the "difficulties" getting the less-that-favorable data out of the hands of the FDA.
Don't look, don't let anyone else look, cherry-pick, - this is what the FDA helps it's customers do best.
People (kids) loaded up on SSRI's with no apparent clinical benefit can go out on rampant murder sprees, while Lilly brags about it's particular flavor being the "best seller", but a chelation study (with thousands of parents attesting to the treatment's efficacy) is "unethical". There might be a side effect. Like what, grabbing up all the guns one morning, offing your family, and then loading up and heading off to school?
FDA and NIMH (in this case, anyway) are to Pharma what the big red "easy" button is to Staples customers.
No offense, Staples....
Posted by: Randy | September 18, 2008 at 12:39 PM
my son does the dmsa for 4 days every two weeks and one thing i notice is he is actually giddy during this time. he even laughs in his sleep!! as long as you keep an eye on their liver and watch for any signs that it may be bothering them, it will be fine.
i will never forget the day we came home from the appt where i let them poison my son with a crapload of shots. god i was SO STUPID to let those murderers touch my son. i will carry this with me forever.
Posted by: javsmom | September 18, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Why does this not surprise me? These ass clowns are obviously tied to the pharmaceutical industry. Think about the ramifications if such a study was done -- Lost revenue and more studies done linking environmental polution and vaccines as part of the autism problem, not to mention the liability issue at hand.
Yes, those chelators have a horrible, nasty side effect much worse than mercury, aluminum, antimony and all the other shit that is pumped into our air, water, and food. BEWARE!!!
TD-DMSA changed my non-verbal, non-responsive son into a child that started speaking in complete sentences and losing 70% of his "autism" symptoms in less than 5 months. That is a "side effect" I can live with.
Who do I contact to try and get this study rolling again? I have some great video to send them of the horrible side effects that some of these kids and parents could look forward to.
Posted by: Scott Shoemaker | September 18, 2008 at 12:25 PM
While I understand that they are concerned with the effects chelation is having on the non-toxic rats, why are they halting the study when the toxic rats in the study improved? That's just the point of why the study needs to be done. Our children's labs are showing they ARE toxic. We're not chelating non-toxic kids.
Posted by: SaraD | September 18, 2008 at 11:37 AM
GET THE MERCURY / HEAVY METALS OUT OF THESE KIDS! Jesus ... what will it take? Maybe they need to take the mercury *causes*( autism out of the freaking equation so the pharmaceutical companies and the government don't feel so threatened ... mercury posioning symptoms and autistic symptoms are the SAME, PERIOD. My son has improved tremendously over the past year with DMSA. I get great joy watching him get healthier each day ... my heart aches for the kids who are caught in the web of this deception and aren't getting the proper treatment ... criminal, just criminal.
We need to do something ... THIS IS WRONG TO STOP A CHELATION STUDY.
I just can't believe I live in America and this is happening ...
Posted by: Kathy | September 18, 2008 at 11:05 AM
First, the Associated Press release spews Misinformation that mercury causing autism is rejected by mainstream science per the statement “The treatment removes heavy metals from the body and is based on the fringe theory that mercury in vaccines triggers autism — a theory never proved and rejected by mainstream science.”
WRONG! Even Verstraeten says more study is needed. And mercury is still in some children’s vaccines misleadingly labeled as “traces” or “below detectable levels.” Reading the package insert is the only way to tell. When you calculate the number of these massive molecules at "trace levels" or "below detectable levels" such as a level of 25 nanograms - you still get trillions of molecules injected into the bloodstreams of babies. Vaccines can be used without mercury as a preservative and guess what? Studies on rats show that mercury damages brain cells!
Second, the AP release gives the reason for holding off the study - stating “The study had been on hold because of safety concerns. A study published last year linked a chemical used in the treatment to lasting brain problems in rats.”
WHAT? We already know that mercury does exactly that to rats! And as you read this AP release it is still injected in the bloodstreams of babies! But we can’t fund a study on how to take it out?
Posted by: sdtech | September 18, 2008 at 03:56 AM
THIS HAS BULLSH*T WRITTEN ALL OVER IT!!!
Now why would the Government Group called the NIMH repeat the same study that the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center performed?
Get this.....
According to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, they concluded the following:
The cancellation was triggered by a study which found that rodents with normal lead levels suffered neurological damage after DMSA was administered.
Here is the link to see for yourselves!!
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT00376194
Now, here is a link to a blog from a Parent asking a well known Toxicologist about the Dangers of DMSA and why the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center never bothered to use DMPS as their primary source of Chelation for their study:
http://www.enigmautism.com/news.php?item.27.7
We need to keep fighting because if we prove that chelation therapy works then they will have to use DMPS!!!
Posted by: Elucidatus | September 18, 2008 at 02:21 AM
Notice the studies they WON'T do:
Studies on the effects of chelation.
Studies comparing unvaxed and vaxed children for autism.
Studies to find the misdiagnosed adults with autism to prove there's been no increase.
When is everyone going to wake up to what's happening?
Anne Dachel
Media editor
Posted by: Anne Dachel | September 17, 2008 at 09:40 PM
"....What the FDA approved of harmed my son, what the FDA doesn't approve of has given my son back to me."
Lila, that was beautiful!
:-) Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne | September 17, 2008 at 09:30 PM
"The statement says the agency decided the money would be better used testing other potential therapies for autism and related disorders."
It would seem fairly apparent that despite all good intentions, the folks spearheading the autism research initiative never got around to asking the Autism Research Institute (ARI aka the DAN! movement that actually treats kids on the autism spectrum), THIS simple question:
"Of all the treatments that you do on autism kids, which one is the most beneficial?"
The answer might have surprised them because as per parent reports, the answer is that chelation topped the list of beneficial interventions for autism, a whopping 74% of the kids were helped!!! If you don't believe me, see here -
http://www.autism.com/treatable/form34qr.htm#biomedical
I am having a very hard time understanding NIMH's logic.
Posted by: Someone *help* me | September 17, 2008 at 09:00 PM
These people really chap my hide. I went to the NIMH website but could not find any reference to this press release. Most curious. I DID, however, find a listing of the autism clinical trials that they ARE doing. You know, the ones that are "SAFE". They are testing efficacy of the following drugs: Atomoxetine (Strattera, Eli Lilly); donepezil (Aricept, Pfizer); olanzapine (Eli Lilly); riluzole (Aventis); D-Cycloserine; minocycline (Lederle); methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, Daytrana, etc., Novartis, Shire, Alza, Johnson & Johnson). All of these drugs have dangerous side effects. Many are contraindicated for kids under 6 and for those with predispositions like GI problems, tics, etc. So how, exactly, did the NIMH determine that THESE trials are safe, but chelation isn't???? I am guessing that the people who made the decision don't work at NIMH -- they work for the PHarma companies. Pustulent, vile beasties, they are. Oh, and for a look into what happens when researchers cross Pharma, installment #957,read this: http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/05/22a.php
Posted by: Garbo | September 17, 2008 at 08:58 PM
My 17 y.o. son is recovered after five years of biomedical treatment ONLY (no other interventions). This included chelation. His welfare was never in jeopardy, quite the contrary, he did nothing but improve. He is no longer heavy metal toxic. He no longer has mitochondrial dysfunction. He no longer has autism or "autism like symptoms" that he had ever since a nurse mistakenly gave him an MMR at 8 mo. of age and then his correct vaccines as well. What the FDA approved of harmed my son, what the FDA doesn't approve of has given my son back to me.
Posted by: Lila White | September 17, 2008 at 08:15 PM
From the AP article:
"..critics had called an unethical experiment on children."
Any more unethical than the government *doing nothing* and *ignoring* research that's already been done? (research on treatment that is, not on vaccines and mercury..)
Posted by: Jim Witte | September 17, 2008 at 07:58 PM
"Of course I'm not sure the government would ever fund a study on chelation, since doing so would no doubt show improvements in the kids..."
Nah - they'd figure out some way to bugger it up, just like Denmark, Fombonne, Verstraten (II) etc, etc, etc..
Actually, I had little hope they'd *do* the chelation study correctly. First problem - are they going to deal with yeast? It's well known (at least in the "wacky, scary" biomed community) that sulfur-based chelators stir up yeast. Yeast causes problems.. Problems which may well cover up the benefits from the chelation, or maybe make things even worse. Is a federal study going to take this into account? Somehow I don't think so.
Next question - will they evaluate it correctly? Firstly, will they look long enough, or only for two months after the treatment (or even one month, or even just a week)? To be fair, I don't know how quickly chelation creates improvements. Secondly, will they look closely enough to see improvements? In CBC, McCandless says she developed a very detailed parent-report form for determining *any* positive benefit from HBOT - presumably because such improvements, while present, are very small at first. Are they going to do this? Somehow I don't think so. Of course, they'd say this just somehow "biases" the results - I guess meaning it raises chance statistical improvements to something considered important. Definite a non-starter for mainstream medicine.
Thirdly, would they look only at behavior, or would they look at real, hard indicators like fMRI readings, EEG traces (perhaps), sensory testing, whatever else they could dream up? Certainly not - there *already* is such "hard" evidence of methylation problems and mitochondrial problems (innate or induced), vitamin D and calcium regulation dysfunction, problems with the anion exchangers, body acidity, hypothyroidism, and interesting and not-normal phosphorus numbers (at least in some kids). And let's not forget the "hard" evidence of severe gut bug depletion.
Do they use *those* biomarkers to diagnose autism, or "confirm" a "wishy-washy" behavioral diagnosis made by a [sic] shrink? No, they don't.
I swear, if I get the chance to scream at Congress about what they are going to do in 10 or 15 years when this all hits the government financially.. They will get an earful. Oh wait, they already have.
Jim Witte
Posted by: Jim Witte | September 17, 2008 at 07:54 PM
Physician supervised chelation therapy saved my four children's lives.
Removing toxic metals has recovered my non-verbal autistic son to a normal life.
Restored my daughter from documented learning disabilities to IOWA scores above grade level.
Taken my ADHD son from stuttering and socially ill equipped to happy and calm.
All are functioning better in school.
We have suffered no side effects from IV and oral chelation other than yeast.
This is just crazy.
Are they afraid to find a smoking gun?
Posted by: KarenAtlanta | September 17, 2008 at 07:18 PM
"The study had been on hold because of safety concerns. A study published last year linked a chemical used in the treatment to lasting brain problems in rats."
More like chemicals used in vaccines are linked to brain problems.
Of course I'm not sure the government would ever fund a study on chelation, since doing so would no doubt show improvements in the kids.. which means someone somewhere is gonna have some 'splainin' to do Lucy.
Posted by: Jeanne | September 17, 2008 at 07:08 PM
So, why do I sense Pauly PrOffit's grubby, greedy little fingers on this? This smells like something that he would do, and we all know how he hates those "evil" little DAN Doctors for curing those kids that he has worked so hard to poison.
Posted by: Craig Willoughby | September 17, 2008 at 06:04 PM
In the Boston Globe version of this story, they reported, "The study outline said that failing to find a difference between the two groups would counteract 'anecdotal reports and widespread belief' that chelation works."
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/09/17/us_researcher_call_off_controversial_autism_study/
Why didn't the study outline say, "Finding a difference between the two groups would affirm what many scientists have said, removing toxic metals, helps kids recover from autism."
I seriously doubt they were looking for real answers. And if you don't look, it's unlikely that you'll ever find.
Anne Dachel
Media editor
Posted by: Anne Dachel | September 17, 2008 at 05:42 PM
This just makes me want to scream! AARRRGGHHH
!@#&*^%((*&
Posted by: ObjectiveAutismDad | September 17, 2008 at 05:28 PM