Chelation - Answer to autism?

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Posted by: "Christina Hildebrand" Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:45 am (PST) The unorthodox practice of chelation - No one knows what causes autism, butone theory has ignited an intensedebateBy John LarsonCorrespondentNBC NewsUpdated: 7:41 p.m. ET June 4, 2006Autism is a mysterious and devastating disorder that is believed to affectas many as 500,000 children in this country. No one knows for certain whatcauses autism, but one theory - chelation- has sparked controversy. Now, JimAdams wants to put that theory to the test. In a desperate quest foranswers, he is using his scientific know-how to test a controversial therapycalled "chelation." And he has a special reason for taking on this mission -his daughter Kim. This report aired Dateline Sunday, June 4, 7 p.m.Kim Adams knows every word, every move, every pause by heart because she haswatched this same video

thousands of times.Kim Adams, autistic girl: Barney's Birthday!Like many diagnosed with autism, she is trapped in a world of repetition andritual.For example, her father Jim knows his daughter will want two braids becauseit is Wednesday. Kim insists on wearing two braids and a dress to schoolevery Wednesday.Her need for order is extreme. Even a minute change in routine, like a spotappearing on her father's shirt, can make her world feel frighteningly outof whack.Kim Adams: Daddy's shirt.Jim Adams, Kim's father: Oh, daddy's shirt is dirty.Kim Adams: Mommy, daddy's shirt is dirty.Marie Adams, Kims mother: That's okay.At 13 years of age, Kim is still a child who needs help with life's mostbasic skills. She can't brush her teeth without a list of directions, ormake her bed without a series of pictures.Jim Adams: My little girl was diagnosed with autism at age

two-and-a-half.We were told it was a lifelong, incurable disorder. There was nothing wecould do for her, that it was just a matter of time until we'd probably haveto institutionalize her. It was absolutely crushing.Jim and his wife, Marie immediately ruled out institutionalizing Kim. Andalthough already raising two other children, they began doing everythingthey could for Kim - special diets, special teachers, special classes. Whileshe appeared normal, Kim couldn't speak, couldn't follow simpleinstructions, and made little eye contact.Marie Adams: Then as she got older, you know her anger, her tantrums, heraggression - she used to hit, kick, bite. When she was older, she knockedholes in the walls.A professor of chemistry at Arizona State University by day, Jim Adamsstudied autism at night, learning about brain development and damage, howthe brain interacts with vitamins, minerals and metals.He

sought out others concerned with the rising number of children beinglabeled autistic - parents and scientists who also wondered how a conditionthat was diagnosed in only one in 100,000 children in the 1980s was twodecades later diagnosed in as many as one in every 175 American children.He started hearing stories about damage done to people exposed to methylmercury, the kind found in thermometers and in polluted environments. Therewas the mercury spill in Japan that led to mercury laden fish and Minimatadisease, affecting many who ate the fish.He heard about Pink Disease, also called Acrodynia, a mysterious conditionthat afflicted children in this country roughly a hundred years ago. Thesymptoms included social withdrawal and lack of language. The conditiondisappeared almost overnight when a certain type of teething powder whichcontained mercury was removed from the market.Jim Adams: There is no doubt that the

mercury in the teething powders waswhat caused Acrodynia, and that symptoms of Acrodynia were pretty similar tosymptoms of autism.John Larson, Dateline correspondent: What's your basic idea here? Thatmercury causes autism or that somehow makes it worse?Jim Adams: We think that it's a combination of a genetic susceptibilityleading to a decreased ability to excrete mercury. So that these kids arenot necessarily dosed to high levels of mercury, but that simply, they are asmall subset of the population that they have unusual genes, that they justcan't excrete mercury very well.Larson: Jim's suspicion that mercury might somehow be connected to the risein the number of children diagnosed with autism places him near the centerof one of the most hotly contested and politically charged medical debatesof our time - one that has pitted activist parents against federal healthofficials and vaccine manufacturers,

because mercury in children often comesfrom vaccines.Vaccines -- those life-saving miracle drugs that have successfully foughtback everything from polio, small pox, and diptheria, to measles, mumps andrubella. It began to be phased out a few years ago, but until then, mostinfant vaccines included something called ethyl mercury in a preservativecalled thimerasol.Although different from methyl mercury, the kind found in pollution, ethylmercury in high enough doses, can also damage the nervous system.Jim Adams: Thimerasol was introduced into vaccines before the FDA evenexisted. It was just grandfathered in. And then as children begain receivingmore vaccines in the vaccination schedule, the amount they received keptgrowing and growing until 1999 when Congress asked the FDA to evaluate theamount of mercury in all the pharmaceutical products.What the Food and Drug Administration discovered was that along

with gettingmore shots, by 1992, children were also getting more mercury. The vaccinesundoubtedly were protecting the children from a variety of deadly diseases,but were they also causing autism in some children?In order to answer that question, the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention commissioned two reports into the issue, both of which dismissedthimerasol as the problem. Dr. Tanya Popovic is the CDC's AssociateDirector for Science Research.Tanya Popovik, CDC Associate Director for Science Research: Top-notchscientists have reviewed everything and anything that is available and havereally in their latest report said that they reject causal association ofthimerasol in vaccines and autism.The American Academy of Pediatrics and many other scientists also reject thelink between vaccines and autism and are concerned the debate over mercurywill discourage parents from vaccinating their

children.But despite the stance of mainstream science, thousands of parents, and evensome scientists, claim there is a growing body of evidence to suggest theremight be a connection between mercury and autism.And they point to the benefits of a radical new treatment to help make theircase.Julia Berle, mother of autistic child: It saved my child.This mother and thousands of other parents have turned to a process calledchelation.Chelation involves ridding the body of metals, including mercury. In itsmost aggressive form, it is done intravenously, but most parents give theirautistic children a milder oral medication, or as in this case, a cream thatis absorbed through the skin. The chelation agent binds to the mercury,which is then passed through the system.Originally approved for treating lead poisoning, there are parents who claimchelation has helped cure their children's autism.The

parents share stories and home videos of what they describe as theirchildren's recoveries.Some report their children going from agitated repetitive behaviors tosimply being calmer and able to focus. From being unable to use language, tobeing able to express themselves- from almost complete withdrawal, tointeracting with their families again. But most doctors aren't buying thosestories of near-miraculous recovery.Dr. Jay Berkelhamer, presidnet of American Academy of Pediatrics: Theusefulness of chelation therapy in treating autism is nil.Dr. Jay Berkelhamer is the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.Like most doctors Dateline spoke with, he pointed out the process can bedangerous. Performed intravenously, it even led to one death.Dr. Berkelhamer: Chelation therapy is potentially toxic. The chelationmaterial that are used to remove these metals from the bloodstream canaffect the liver and the

kidney.The reason most doctors agree with the American Academy of Pediatrics isbecause they don't believe mercury from vaccines is the problem in the firstplace. They say some autistic children may just outgrow the problem, orimprove from behavioral and other therapies, but that autism isn't cured byremoving metals from a child's system.But despite the position of mainstream science on chelation, for Jim Adamsand some other scientists, the verdict is still out.Jim Adams: It's a very controversial topic. There have been a number ofepidemiology studies looking at it, Some showing absolutely no link, someshowing a very strong link. It depends, I think, very much on who does theresearch. I think the most critical issue is looking into thimerasol.So Jim Adams has decided to do just that. Along with Dr. Matt Boral of theSouthwest College of Naturopathic Medicine - an accredited school ofalternative and

integrated medicine - he has designed the firstdouble-blinded, placebo-controlled study of chelation. The mission: toanswer the question of whether chelation really works, or whether it's justthe wishful thinking of desperate parents.John Larson, Dateline correspondent: You've got strong feelings about theconnection between mercury and autism. Are you the guy who should be doingthis study? Will critics come out and say, "Well, here, he just proved whathis suspicions were?"Jim Adams: I think that if someone else were to do the research, I'd bethrilled. But the fact is no one else has done it and thousands of familiesare out there using it. And so, because it's pretty much the most highlyranked treatment according to a survey of 23,000 families, I think there's alot of good reason to do it.But he already knows chelation does not work for everyone.Chelation did not help his daughter, Kim, perhaps Jim says

because it wasdone too late. But regardless of why it didn't work, he wants to know ifchelation can help any autistic children. After all, he is not just achemist in search of knowledge, but a father who knows the desire for acure.John Larson: What happens in the end, after all this hard work? If you findthat there really is no relation between mercury and autistic behavior. Willyou be disappointed?Jim Adams: Disappointed, yes. But whatever way it turns out, we'll reportit. If it doesn't help, we'll report it. And if it does, we're gonna reportthat, too.Public health officials stress the need to vaccinate children against knowndiseases. Today most American children under the age of two years areautomatically vaccinated with mercury-free vaccines, and parents can asktheir pediatricians about getting thimerasol free vaccines for their olderchildren. Some experts also suggest requesting mercury-free flu

shots forpregnant women, infants and children. Jim Adams predicts he'll have thefinal results of his study by the end of the year. You should know that mostchildren under the age of two are now automatically given mercury-freevaccines, and parents can request those shots for their older children aswell. "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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