Thankfully, an ill-advised autism study involving the use of chelation has been called off by the National Institute of Mental Health. Chelation is a technique used in the treatment for lead or mercury poisoning and was proposed as a treatment for autism because of the mistaken belief that vaccines containing mercury could trigger autism. This theory of a cause for autism has been dismissed by mainstream science, yet some still believe it to be true.
Even if it were true, mercury poisoning and its treatment tends to occur relatively together in time — the treatment follows the poisoning once diagnosed, which occurs after the symptoms become severe. Believing such a treatment would magically work years after the cause was reaching (mercury hasn’t been used in vaccines since 2001). Also, children with autism have no measurable increased levels of heavy metals:
“I think they’re making the right decision not to go forward with the study,” said Barbara Strupp, a professor of psychology and nutritional sciences at Cornell University.
“Our data raise concerns about administering (the chelation compound) to children who do not have elevated levels of heavy metals,” Strupp said.
Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, agreed with the decision to cancel.
“Suppose that a child suffers a severe side effect from chelation,” said Offit, author of “Autism’s False Prophets,” a new book on autism research. “Without any evidence it’s helpful, I think it’s unethical.”
The chelation drug proposed for the study, DMSA, can cause side effects including rashes and low white blood cell count.
“This was a wise and careful decision,” said Ellen Silbergeld of Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, who had been invited to comment on the study during an earlier review, in an e-mail.
Chelation itself also has its problems, with concerns arising about its use after a study conducted last year showed problems in rats who had treatment. It’s probably best not to administer such a treatment to children when the evidence for doing so remains speculative at best.
Read the full article: US researchers call off controversial autism study
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4 Comments to
“Controversial Autism Study Called Off”
Controversial? What is so controversial about the use of DMSA in children? It has been the choice treatment for lead poisoning since the 1950s. Of course the children should have evidence of heavy metals poisoning if it is to be used. A urine porphoryns test would be sufficient. I read that blood levels were going to be used, this is ridiculous. I guess they didn’t want to even let the public know that kids with autism have heavy metals poisoning, if they did they would use the right tests to determine it.
I think a lot of scientists/parents and those who are searching for a remedy and treatment option as well as further information on the origin of autism is becoming a bit restless. They simply want to find a remedy to all of the problems associated with autism. Although this next statement doesn’t relate to the bigger picture, I can understand people who are leery of vaccinations even though mainstream science rejects this theory. For example, a lot of what we have listed in the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) as being concrete has had to be changed or even removed as defining criteria because we’ve had to re-assess our initial claims. This is not to say that vaccinations are harmful per se, however, once one does extensive research and looks at the pros and cons of vaccines should they make a decision.
Concerning the topic at hand, obviously the NIMH didn’t want to take any chances and administer Chelation to subjects and you can’t really blame them for that, especially if they are concerned about the well-being of the individual. Perhaps the side effects out-wayed the potential results that could have been obtained by using Chelation.
I would recommend a very good book titled: Autism: Explaining the Enigma by Uta Frith (2003). Very personal and insightful.
Click on my name for the link!
@Elizabeth - They’ve already tested kids with autism’s heavy metal levels and found no such increase in them, making the use of this treatment indeed “controversial.” You don’t treat someone — a child, no less — with a treatment unconnected to the findings of an assessment.
Clinicians are fine to try anything they may think might work, but researchers should know better. And in this case, they did.
Many children diagnosed with autism do have heavy metal loads. Almost all that I know of do have a very heavy metal load including lead, mercury and aluminum. Arsenic is also common.
Many say ‘oh, those kids don’t have autism, they have heavy metal toxicity.’ They have both. At least some do. Autism has no known genetic, physical or neurological markers. It is simply a set of symptoms that has been labeled Autism Spectrum Disorder. Why a spectrum? Because these kids have many different levels and causes.
Chelation is a very promising treatment for some kids who are on the spectrum. No matter why or how they have the heavy metal loads that they do, they need to get them out before they can recover.
The medical community has been wonderful at telling parents to wait until there is more research on these treatments, but then cancel the research. Or never actually research that which is proving to work. There have been so many flaws in the recent autism studies that it is not fair to those who are losing valuable time to treat their children.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 18 Sep 2008
