Cheleation therapy and autism--is it worth the trouble?

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 months 5 days (www.nature.com)

Cheleation therapy involves injecting the patient with dimercaptosuccinic acid or some other agent that can bind to metal ions. The bound ions are then eliminated by the body. Cheleation therapy is used, successfully, in heavy metal poisoning. Now people are pushing for its use with autistic children.

For years, the idea that vaccines cause autism has taken center stage. The rationale is that the mercury used as a preservative (or more specifically, that USED to be used as a preservative) was poisoning the children and interrupting their brain development. In fact, some autistic children have been shown to have detectable, but not toxic, levels of mercury in their blood.

However, the idea that the mercury in vaccines causes autism has been explored, examined, discredited and debunked. People believe in it anyway.

My take on the matter? The critics say the treatment is useless. The proponents say that it is helpful. THAT IS WHAT CLINICAL STUDIES ARE FOR. Ordinarily, I'd say, "Make sure that everyone understands the risks, but then just run the study." However, the participants are children, and cheleation therapy doesn't reverse mercury damage. The harm that mercury does to human cells is permanent. Cheleation just gets the mercury out of the body before it can make things worse.

So the kids who receive the cheleation therapy might stop getting worse, but it would be almost impossible to tell, at least from a small study, whether the cheleation therapy was responsible.

Keywords: autism vaccines vaccines and autism causes of autism cheleation cheleation therapy children pediatrics mercury clinical studies politics