Iowa boy improves with mercury-removal treatment

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Iowa boy improves with mercury-removal treatment

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 16:19:51 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

Iowa boy improves with mercury-removal treatment

By TONY LEYS

REGISTER STAFF WRITER

June 26, 2005

 

Le Claire, Ia. - Gavin Wilken is out in his backyard, unknowingly

demonstrating extraordinary accomplishments.

 

The 6-year-old is goofing around with his little sister, Lindsey. He's

talking. He's laughing. He's playing chase.

 

Their mother, Tami Wilken, watches from the kitchen, expressing

amazement at how normal Gavin seems. You should have seen him a few

years ago, she says. He quit speaking. He failed to respond to his

name. He would hold a pen in front of his face and spin it for hours

on end.

 

The troubles began subtly when Gavin was 17 months old. " He started

swaying in front of the wall, " Wilken says. " At first, I thought, 'How

cute, he's playing with his shadow.' But there was no shadow. "

 

Doctors, who at first saw nothing wrong, concluded Gavin had autism.

The brain condition can rob children of their personalities, and it

can tear families apart. Most doctors say they're unsure what causes

autism, and they can't explain why the number of new cases has soared

over the past 20 years. They have little to offer in treatment or in hope.

 

Tami Wilken says she knows the answers. She has joined an increasingly

vocal and controversial movement of parents who believe their

children's autism was sparked by mercury, which until recently was

included in many vaccines as the base component of the preservative

Thimerosal. Wilken has taken the belief a step further, seeking out an

aggressive treatment, called chelation, to remove the metal from

Gavin's body.

 

She knows mainstream medical leaders disagree with the theory and the

treatment. " If their oath is to do no harm, why are they pushing

mercury into my child but not letting me take it out? " she asks.

 

Doctors skeptical of treatment's benefits

 

This spring, Gavin became one of 125 children put forward as success

stories by a new national group urging parents to use chelation to

relieve their children of autism. The group, Generation Rescue, has

taken out full-page ads in USA Today and the New York Times, declaring

that " Autism is Preventable and Curable. "

 

The effort concerns many physicians, who worry that it could make

parents needlessly fearful of vaccines and that it could lead

desperate families to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a

treatment that they say probably doesn't help and could hurt.

 

Doctors often start the discussion by saying they understand why

parents of autistic children are frustrated with the lack of

explanation and treatment for the growing problem. Federal researchers

say that between 1994 and 2003, the number of school-age children

classified as having autism or related disorders exploded from 22,664

to 141,022. Official estimates say as many as one in 166 children are

affected. Although many experts say that much of the jump in cases is

due to more aggressive diagnosis of the condition, most agree that

there also has been an actual increase.

 

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, Iowa's state epidemiologist, says large studies

have concluded there is no link between mercury and autism.

 

" Thimerosal is not the cause of autism, " she says. " Therefore, I don't

think taking it out is the answer. " Several European countries took

the preservative out of their vaccines years ago, she says, and their

autism rates continue to grow.

 

American drug makers began removing the controversial ingredient from

most of their vaccines a few years ago. " The anti-vaccine people took

that as proof something was wrong, " Quinlisk says. In fact, she says,

the manufacturers did it because authorities feared that even baseless

concerns could make parents avoid important vaccinations.

 

" No way it could be a coincidence "

 

Chelation, the treatment being used on Gavin, has been around for many

years. It mainly has been used for people who have suffered from lead

poisoning or industrial accidents involving heavy metals. Chelation

medications are designed to bind with the metals, which the body then

can excrete.

 

Possible side effects include loss of helpful minerals, such as zinc

and iron. Gavin has been taking various forms of the treatment for

four years . His current medicine is a cream that his parents spread

on his arm every other day. They give him vitamins and other

supplements to try to replace lost minerals.

 

Tami Wilken, who works part time at the International House of

Pancakes, and her husband, Bill, who drives trucks for FedEx, have

spent $65,000 to $70,000 on treatment for their son.

 

It is worth it, they say. Gavin resumed speaking within two weeks of

starting chelation. Within a year, he was using six-word sentences.

This past school year, he was in a regular first-grade class with the

help of a teacher's aide. They hope that by third grade, he will be

able to handle classwork on his own.

 

Quinlisk and many other doctors say some autistic children improve on

their own, for unknown reasons. So the fact that some kids get better

while on a given treatment proves nothing, they argue.

 

Tami Wilken doesn't buy it. " Absolutely not, " she says. " There is no

way it could be a coincidence. "

 

Source of autism remains unclear

 

J.B. Handley, Generation Rescue's founder, doesn't buy it either.

Handley, who lives in Oregon, has an autistic son who he says is

improving while having chelation treatment.

 

Authorities are so intent on vaccinating children that they've covered

up the harm, and studies concluding otherwise are tainted by the

influence of drug companies, Handley says.

 

Handley contends that all autism is caused by mercury and that because

of the preservative that used to be common in vaccines, " an entire

generation has been poisoned, " he says.

 

That cuts against conventional wisdom, which holds that autism is a

complicated, varied condition that probably has multiple causes.

 

Handley says the symptoms of autism are strikingly similar to those of

mercury poisoning. That's why he believes chelation works.

 

The treatment has caused controversy before. In 1998, the Iowa Board

of Medical Examiners suspended a West Des Moines doctor partly for

using chelation as a treatment for heart disease and diabetes. The

doctor still hasn't had his license restored.

 

Under state rules, the treatment may be used only to treat heavy-metal

poisoning. Ann Mowery, the licensing board's executive director, says

she hasn't heard of any Iowa physicians using the treatment for

autism. She says the board hasn't ruled on whether that would be a

permitted practice, because the subject hasn't been brought up.

 

Gavin's physician, Dr. Robert Filice of suburban Chicago, knows his

" alternative " therapy is outside the medical mainstream. But he says

he's not worried about getting in trouble for it because chelation is

intended to take out heavy metals, and that is precisely how he's

using it.

 

Filice is not sure that all autism cases are caused by mercury

poisoning, but he believes that even small amounts of the metal can

harm children who for genetic reasons have trouble excreting it.

 

The doctor says he's treated about 20 autistic children with

chelation, and about half of them have shown dramatic improvement.

" There's no guarantee that they're going to respond. But it's such a

safe therapy, with the potential benefits being so great, I would tend

to err on the side of treating somebody, just to see what happens. "

 

Such talk leaves many people wondering if chelation is the answer, or

if it is just the latest straw for desperate parents to grasp.

 

More research urged on mercury's role

 

Count Steven Muller among the undecided. Muller is executive director

of the Homestead, a Runnells autism treatment agency. He sympathizes

with families who are reaching out for unusual solutions.

 

" It's great to have people pushing the envelope, because if they

don't, the world stays flat, " he says. " But I've also heard people say

that all autistic kids can be cured, thereby raising false hopes for

families that probably always will be dealing with this. "

 

Muller's agency relies heavily on behavioral therapies to help

autistic children and adults get along in the world. He believes there

is enough suspicion to justify continued studies of Thimerosal's

possible role. Even now that the preservative has been removed, he

suggests that doctors should consider spreading the shots out, instead

of giving them in bunches. That might lessen possible complications,

he says.

 

" But when parents say, 'I'm not going to vaccinate my kids,' that's

the wrong approach, " Muller says. " You do need to vaccinate your kids. "

 

Muller is wary of expensive, unproven treatments. He has seen families

go into debt to pay for all kinds of approaches, from swimming with

dolphins to taking complicated vitamin therapies. Some might work for

a few kids, he says, but not for everyone.

 

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