Chelation therapy cures child of autism (that was caused by mercury in vaccines)

[RichardR]

According to this: (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/25/BAGU0CU2K71.DTL)

The Handleys are now among a small minority of parents -- who, believing that the autism was caused by the mercury in thimerosal, a preservative that was routinely used in vaccines until recently -- are treating their children with chelation therapy, a lotion or pill that strips the body of heavy metals. It has been used for decades to detoxify people contaminated in industrial accidents, but no studies have proved whether it is an effective treatment for autism.
Thoughts, people?

[geni]

Originally posted by RichardR
According to this: (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/25/BAGU0CU2K71.DTL)


Thoughts, people?

Common claim at the moment. Personaly I'd classify it as child abbuse but the people who do it don't seem to think so.

[Deetee]

Desperate people do desperate things. As much as I hate to say it, if my child were autistic and I thought s/he had a lot of possible Hg exposure, I might be tempted into trying something like this.

[Mouthfire]

That would be interesting to see how this turns out, given that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently put out a statement that studies showed that there was no link between vaccinations and autism.

It might be possible to do a controlled study on this, though.... I'd have to look further into chelation therapy and its risks/adverse effects, but it might not be too risky to do a trial to put a definitive answer to this.

[Soapy Sam]

Did anyone read the ad for HGH on the link?
A universal panacea.

[RichardR]

Originally posted by Soapy Sam
Did anyone read the ad for HGH on the link?
A universal panacea.
HGH?

[Jas]

That 'Generation Rescue' site is pretty interesting, especially testimonials.

Isn't chelation therapy pretty sketch?

[RichardR]

Anyone any ideas about chelation therapy as a way to remove mercury?

And even if you could remove the mercury, (and if mercury was the cause of autism), wouldn't the damage have already been done? I mean, you could remove mercury, but if the mercury had already damaged the brain, surely it wouldn't "reverse" the autism?

[RichardR]

Originally posted by Jas
That 'Generation Rescue' site is pretty interesting, especially testimonials.

Isn't chelation therapy pretty sketch?
Quackwatch thinks so. (http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chelation.html) But that page doesn't comment on mercury and autism - more on mercury in fillings. It does point out some of the dangers, eg it also removed zink which weakens the immune system.

[geni]

Originally posted by RichardR
Anyone any ideas about chelation therapy as a way to remove mercury?

And even if you could remove the mercury, (and if mercury was the cause of autism), wouldn't the damage have already been done? I mean, you could remove mercury, but if the mercury had already damaged the brain, surely it wouldn't "reverse" the autism?

Try:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelation_therapy

[Bronze Dog]

My suspicion, based on my basic chemistry knowledge: Isn't poisoning caused by the toxin reacting with your body in unwanted ways? I would think that the mercury would go in, react with something, and become (relatively) inert once it did its damage. Then again, there's the posibility it's a catalytic effect, rather than a one-time reaction.

Of course, if it's a catalytic reaction, you'd want it removed, but I still don't think that would reverse the damage caused, as RichardR pointed out.

But the argument is moot, since thermosol, as I understand it, is a mercury compound, not mercury, and cries of mercury poisoning would be equivalent to shouting that table salt would poison you with chlorine and explode upon contact with your body's water content. Another possible mooting step is that not all vaccines contain thermosol.

[CurtC]

Originally posted by BronzeDog
But the argument is moot, since thermosol, as I understand it, is a mercury compound, not mercury, and cries of mercury poisoning...Actually, elemental mercury, if I understand this correctly, is not that bad, but certain mercury compounds are. Something about ethyl mercury and methyl mercury IIRC.

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by CurtC
Actually, elemental mercury, if I understand this correctly, is not that bad, but certain mercury compounds are. Something about ethyl mercury and methyl mercury IIRC.

I think it was mercury(I) (in things like methyl mercury) that is claimed to have killed a university chemist a couple of years ago. It was fairly newsworthy, because she had taken pretty standard precautions. She was wearing at least latex gloves, and only spilled a little. They claim that it went through the skin.

I am not sure if I buy the whole explanation, and wonder if there weren't an allergic reaction of some sort that accompanied her contamination.

[Rolfe]

Uh, the thread title saidChelation therapy cures child of autism (that was caused by mercury in vaccines)but the link only said the parents were treating their child. Nothing about a cure, or even about any claimed improvement in the autism. Rather different, don't you think?

Chelation therapy is bloody dangerous, and you wouldn't get near me with a syringe full of EDTA unless I was positively dying of properly-diagnosed lead poisoning. (I see what EDTA does to body chemistry every day, when idiots manage to get the EDTA-anticoagulated tubes used for haematology mixed up with the heparin-anticoagulated tubes used for clinical chemistry.) EDTA is vicious stuff, only to be used when absolutely necessary - note that when in vivo anticoagulant is needed they use heparin, never EDTA for that purpose! And it's no coincidence that EDTA used topically is an effective antibacterial.

And if they say that thiomersal caused the autism, but then there is not and never has been any thiomersal in MMR, where did they think the child got it from?

If there was actually any documentation of chelation therapy "curing" autism, as the title of the thread stated, then medicine would be all over it like a rash. But unfortunately, no such evidence I fear.

Rolfe.

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by Rolfe
Chelation therapy is bloody dangerous, and you wouldn't get near me with a syringe full of EDTA unless I was positively dying of properly-diagnosed lead poisoning. (I see what EDTA does to body chemistry every day, when idiots manage to get the EDTA-anticoagulated tubes used for haematology mixed up with the heparin-anticoagulated tubes used for clinical chemistry.) EDTA is vicious stuff, only to be used when absolutely necessary



Like when my water softener goes out, but then only in my shampoo...

[pgwenthold]

There is something I don't understand. If these people think Hg is causing the autism, which they apparently do because they think that removing the mercury will cure the autism, shouldn't mercury being showing up at some unusually high level?

Shouldn't it be bloody obvious (excuse the pun) from lab tests?

[geni]

Originally posted by CurtC
Actually, elemental mercury, if I understand this correctly, is not that bad, but certain mercury compounds are. Something about ethyl mercury and methyl mercury IIRC.


Thimerosal breaks down to ethyl mercury. Detials on what the body does with ethly mercury may be found here:

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/7712/7712.pdf

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

Originally posted by pgwenthold
There is something I don't understand. If these people think Hg is causing the autism, which they apparently do because they think that removing the mercury will cure the autism, shouldn't mercury being showing up at some unusually high level?

Shouldn't it be bloody obvious (excuse the pun) from lab tests?

But you see... they get the kid's hair analyzed from a lab recommended by the crooks... oops, sorry CLINIC that is doing the chelation. So obviously it shows high mercury, plus lots of other things like bismuth and alluminum.

Dr. Laidler was one of those who got sucked into it for a while:
http://www.autism-watch.org/about/bio2.shtml

ALSO... the "chelation" has been more broadly defined. It is not just EDTA being pumped into the veins. One enterprising fellow has devised a cream that will chelate the mercury out, though all it really does is stink. I call it "Buttar Cream"... The Austism Diva has some pointed comments about it here:
http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2005/04/senator-burton-was-just-trying-to-help_18.html

On a brighter note (I guess) one of the crooks, er I'm sorry "doctors" has been forced to retire due to three lawsuits from parents who were unhappy with what chelation did to their kids, his self-medication... and well his medical license being suspended again:
http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/edelson.html

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by Hydrogen Cyanide
But you see... they get the kid's hair analyzed from a lab recommended by the crooks... oops, sorry CLINIC that is doing the chelation. So obviously it shows high mercury, plus lots of other things like bismuth and alluminum.


And what do they find for kids that don't have autism?

Or is that the wrong question to ask?

[RichardR]

Originally posted by Rolfe
Uh, the thread title saidbut the link only said the parents were treating their child. Nothing about a cure, or even about any claimed improvement in the autism. Rather different, don't you think?

The article says:

For Jamie's parents, the proof they need is in front of them: Jamie, now 3 years old and several months into treatment, is plump and playing baseball. His smile has returned.

"Every day brings small, steady gains," said Lisa Handley of Lafayette. "Our life is filled with hope and the conviction that Jamie won't just improve, but will completely recover."

OK, not a complete cure, but they're saying it's getting better. Is it possible to reverse any effects of mercury poisoning? Surely when the damage is done it's too late?

Originally posted by Rolfe
And if they say that thiomersal caused the autism, but then there is not and never has been any thiomersal in MMR, where did they think the child got it from?

Again, the article says:

Three states -- Iowa, Missouri and California -- have banned the preservative, although the California law doesn't take effect until July 2006.

Doesn't that imply they're using it now? Did they stop using thimerosal in vaccines in the US and if so does anybody know when?

[anonimouse]

Again, people that want to claim mercury poisoning as a cause of autism (and by proxy blame vaccines) never can explain why the most common symptoms of Pink Disease never seem to appear in autism, only the uncommon ones that are relatively vague and seem to parallel the disease.

I mean, it's theoretically possible that thimerosal may have some minor, secondary role in a subset of autistic children. But it's by no means proven to the point where I'd be forgoing vaccination or subjecting kids to potentially dangerous chelation therapy.

[Zep]

Hmmm. Let's look at this WITHOUT any of the treatment in view.

1) Child is "normal" until about 18 mths old.
2) Child starts "not normal" behaviour according to parents.
3) Parents are TOLD child is "autistic", but they don't say who by.
4) At 3 years old, child resumes "normal" behaviour according to parents.

I'm going to suggest that it is all self-delusion on the part of the parents. No child acts the same as any other growing up, and their individual behaviour patterns change from month to month, even week to week, when they are young. The behaviour these parents describe for an 18 month old sounds perfectly normal to me. Eighteen months is roughly the age when children start to attain an understanding of the wider world around themselves, and they react to this discovery noticeably. This boy simply appears to have been a bit shy, that's all, and now at three years he is coming out of his shell more (by five, he will be a holy terror, as boys will be).

Incidentally, mercury salts do cause serious poisoning, but for pregnant women - Minamata Disease is a cause celebre. Certainly it is being taken seriously, even today, but the drivel being put about by the anti-vax people borders on hysteria.

Example: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/1994/102-6-7/dalgard-full.html

[anonimouse]

Actually, this Generation Rescue site is basically an advertisement for DAN! and doctors that do chelation therapy.

http://www.generationrescue.org

Gems from the website include the "hall of fame", a who's who of autism and anti-vaccine quacks:

http://www.generationrescue.org/hall_fame.html

And of course, this non-partisan "parents only" organization managed to scrape up the money to hire a high-powered PR firm and take out a full page ad in USA Today. But of course, only because they care and not because they're trying to sell chelation therapy to the masses.

http://www.generationrescue.org/mediacenter.html

This is so transparent it's not funny. And I'm convinced something fishy is going on, the more I look at it. After, in the space of two years these parents having a normal child, to an autistic child damaged from vaccines, to having a treated child, to then having the gumption and wherewithall to muster forces to build a fancy organization.

In two years? Me thinks the Handleys are front people for the autism quack doctors who are uniting in order to make some real cash...

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

Originally posted by pgwenthold
And what do they find for kids that don't have autism?

Or is that the wrong question to ask?

Exactly... from http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/hair.html :
In 1983 and 1984, I sent hair samples from two healthy teenagers to 13 of the commercial laboratories [4]. In 1985, I sent paired samples from one of the girls to five more labs. The reported levels of most minerals varied considerably between identical samples sent to the same laboratory, and from laboratory to laboratory. The laboratories also disagreed about what is "normal" or "usual" for many of the minerals, so that a given mineral value might be considered low by some laboratories, normal by others and high by others.

Most of the reports contained computerized interpretations that were voluminous and potentially frightening to patients. The nine labs that included supplement advice in their reports suggested them every time, but the types and amounts varied widely from report to report and from lab to lab. Many of the items recommended were bizarre mixtures of vitamins, minerals, nonessential food substances, enzymes, and extracts of animal organs. One report diagnosed 23 "possible or probable conditions," including atherosclerosis and kidney failure, and recommended 56 supplement doses per day. Literature from most of the laboratories suggested that their reports were useful in managing a wide variety of diseases and supposed nutrient imbalances. I concluded that commercial use of hair analysis in this manner is unscientific, economically wasteful, and probably illegal, and that even if hair analysis were a valuable diagnostic tool, it is doubtful whether the laboratory reports themselves were reliable.

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

Originally posted by RichardR
...Again, the article says:

Three states -- Iowa, Missouri and California -- have banned the preservative, although the California law doesn't take effect until July 2006.

Doesn't that imply they're using it now? Did they stop using thimerosal in vaccines in the US and if so does anybody know when?

Yes, the CDC does know... thimerosal was removed from most CHILDhood vaccines pretty much in 2001, though it is still in the influenza vaccine. It also means that storage requirements are much more stringent:
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vacsafe/concerns/thimerosal/faqs-thimerosal.htm#4

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

Edited to add this interesting Blog... at the start since the messages is so long: http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/05/antivaccination-rhetoric-running.html

ANOTHER edit to add --- the Autism-Diva has the cost of chelation on her blog (by the way, she is autistic herself):
http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2005/05/whats-it-cost-to-chelate.html

AND yet more edits to add... The Autism-Diva discusses her impression of the Handley son, who seemed to be treated with Buttar Cream:
http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2005/05/divas-and-amazons-update.html


When the chelation bit was being debated on the listserv In Jan. 2004 I am on for my son's disability I emailed the FDA for information. After a few weird emails about chelation and heart problems from them, and me replying several times I was asking about mercury, autism and CHILDREN... I finally got what seemed to be a human. Here is what the reply was (some identifying items changed):

I am sorry this has been so confusing. We can only tell you the risks that
have been associated with chelation therapy in the products that have been
studied and approved. Chelation therapy is not approved for mercury
poisoning. The adverse effects that have occurred in children while
treating lead poisoning can be found in the package insert. The drug
labeling, or package insert, that accompanies drug products, is the most
complete single source of information on the drug. They are available from
your local pharmacist and also reprinted in the Physician's Desk Reference
(PDR), which can be found in many libraries.

You may also obtain copies of adverse event reports submitted to FDA from
industry, health care providers, and consumers through Freedom of
Information:
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/foiahand.html

Chemet is an orphan drug that may be used for treatment of mercury
intoxication via chelation. Orphan drugs may be approved or may still be
experimental. A drug becomes an "orphan" when it receives orphan designation
from the Office of Orphan Products Development at the FDA. Orphan
designation qualifies the sponsor to receive certain benefits from the
Government in exchange for developing the drug. The drug must then go
through the new drug approval process like any other drug. To date over 1000
orphan products have been designated and over 200 have been approved for
marketing.
http://www.fda.gov/orphan/

Please also be aware that the FDA is empowered by law to review drug
products for safety and effectiveness. Once approved, a drug product may be
prescribed by a licensed physician for any use that, based on the
physician's professional opinion, is deemed to be appropriate. This action
is considered to be part of the practice of medicine. FDA does not regulate
the practice of medicine and cannot comment on, or recommend, a course of
treatment for any individual. The best protection as a consumer/patient is
to educate yourself about any drug that your doctor prescribes.

In addition, you may read about mercury poisoning by using the search engine
at the following site:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/

I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,
CDER/DrugInfo - RC

-----Original Message-----
From: HCN [mailto:HCN@nospam.com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 2:31 PM
To: CDER DRUGINFO
Subject: Re: Chelation Therapy for Children with Developmental Concerns


And yet this still does NOT answer the original question:

> http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimfaq.htm#q23
>
> Would it be possible that this paragraph be expanded upon?:

Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with lead.

There are folks going about pumping their kids with DMSA (and sometimes
DMSO, because it sounds similar) using dubious results from dubious hair
analysis. These folks are getting this dubious advice from this dubious
group:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/

Thank you again for the effort,

HCN

----- Original Message -----
From: "CDER DRUGINFO" <DRUGINFO@cder.fda.gov>
To: "'HCN'" <HCN@nospam.com>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 10:56 AM
Subject: RE: Chelation Therapy for Children with Developmental Concerns


>
> There are various derivatives of EDTA which are FDA approved in the
> pediatric population for treating lead poisoning by means of chelation.
FDA
> has approved these products on the basis of studies which showed evidence
of
> safety and effectiveness. As with any drug product, these products all
have
> associated risks, and should only be used when benefit outweighs risk.
>
> If you would like a copy of the product labeling for these products, which
> includes adverse event information, please respond to this email with your
> mailing address.
>
> Sincerely,
> CDER/DrugInfo - RC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HCN [mailto:HCN@nospam.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 7:38 PM
> To: CDER DRUGINFO
> Subject: Re: Chelation Therapy for Children with Developmental Concerns
>
>
> Unfortunately, the answer did not address the question. I can assume that
> giving kids EDTA and DMSO is so new that it has not hit the FDA radar
> screen.
>
> Thanks for the effort, I just hope that no kids get injured with this
stuff.
> I shall try my best to steer parents away from putting odd chemicals into
> their kids... but I hope that someone will monitor the Autism-Mercury
Yahoo
> Group (which is where I have been told this practice is preached) and
sends
> out some warnings.
>
> Thanks,
>
> HCN
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "CDER DRUGINFO" <DRUGINFO@cder.fda.gov>
> To: <HCN@nospam.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 9:29 AM
> Subject: RE: Chelation Therapy for Children with Developmental Concerns
>
>
> >
> > Thank you for contacting the Division of Drug Information at the FDA.
> >
> > Chelation agents are approved for treating poisonings with heavy metals.
> > There is no scientific or medical evidence known to FDA that chelation
> > therapy can have any preventative or protective benefits against the
> future
> > development of arteriosclerosis or any other indication. No evidence
has
> > ever been submitted to the FDA demonstrating that Chelation therapy is
> safe
> > and effective for the treatment of arteriosclerosis. Although chelating
> > agents are useful in treating acute lead poisoning, their chronic use,
to
> > combat continued exposure to lead, has not been shown to be effective
and
> > may cause harm.
> >
> > We hope that you find the following links helpful:
> >
> > http://www.nccam.nih.gov/news/2002/chelation/q-and-a.htm#3
> >
> >
>
http://search.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/query?DISAMBIGUATION=true&FUNCTION=sea
> > rch&SERVER2=server2&SERVER1=server1&PARAMETER=chelation
> >
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > CDER/DrugInfo - RC
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: HCN [mailto:HCN@nospam.com]
> > Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 2:34 PM
> > To: octma@cber.fda.gov
> > Subject: Chelation Therapy for Children with Developmental Concerns
> >
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I am a participant of a listserv run by ???? . There
have
> > recently been several messages touting the "benefits" of chelation for
> these
> > kids. I find this quite worrysome, but when I raise an alarm I find
only
> > scant data to support my opinion that it is a dangerous and not very
> useful
> > thing to do to kids. Like this:
> >
> > http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimfaq.htm#q23
> >
> > Would it be possible that this paragraph be expanded upon?:
> >
> > "It is also important to point out that the use of chelation therapy for
> > organic mercury poisoning is controversial, with some experts
questioning
> > its benefit. In addition, there are risks associated with chelation
> > therapy."
> >
> > I would like to find out WHAT risks... where, how... etc. If I had
tried
> > oral chelation for my son who has just been diagnosed with hypertrophic
> > cardiomyopathy with obstruction, would I have caused him harm? (actually
> I'm
> > just thankful we found out about it and he is on Antenolol before the
most
> > common way it is diagnosed: sudden cardiac death). I do find
information
> > on www.quackwatch.org --- but the most ardent advocates of chelation
feel
> > that Dr. Barrett is unreliable... though I am baffled by parents who
decry
> > "toxins" in vaccines, yet pump EDTA or whatever into their kids.
> >
> > I also find it disturbing that if I put into www.google.com the search
> words
> > "chelation child" I get all sorts of sites promoting oral chelation for
> > kids!
> >
>
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=chelation+child&btnG=
> > Google+Search
> >
> > Am I being more alarmed than necessary? Regardless of the physical
danger
> > to kids... I also find it scummy that folks are charging parents of
> disabled
> > kids lots of money for this kind of "treatment".
> >
> > Thank you,
> > HCN

> >
> >
>
>r

[Rolfe]

Oh dear, HC!

:hb:Originally posted by RichardR
Doesn't that imply they're using it now? Did they stop using thimerosal in vaccines in the US and if so does anybody know when? What I was really referring to was the specific accusation that it is MMR which is causing autism. But MMR, as a live vaccine, does not and never has contained thiomersal. The accusations regarding a link with autism were predicated on a completely different suggested mechanism.

Rolfe.

[Deetee]

There is (yet another) ongoing debate about mercury and vaccines in the BMJ responses. These are responses to a review by Dr Fitzpatrick (an eminently sensible pro vaccine advocate who has a child with autism) of David Kirby's book "Evidence of Harm. Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: Medical Controversy"
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/330/7500/1154

As usuual, all the usual suspects (John Stone et al) pour out the woodwork to express their indignation that anyone can question the book's findings.

[anonimouse]

Originally posted by Deetee
There is (yet another) ongoing debate about mercury and vaccines in the BMJ responses. These are responses to a review by Dr Fitzpatrick (an eminently sensible pro vaccine advocate who has a child with autism) of David Kirby's book "Evidence of Harm. Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: Medical Controversy"
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/330/7500/1154

As usuual, all the usual suspects (John Stone et al) pour out the woodwork to express their indignation that anyone can question the book's findings.

Ah, the good David Kirby, who spends an awful lot of time with the SafeMinds folks and presenting to anti-vaccine/autism quack treatment groups, and whose entire book apparently is "the history of autism and thimerosal as told by Lyn Redwood". (right down to the characterization of doctors and government officials)

[CurtC]

Rolfe, as far as I'm aware, the MMR-autism flap had to do with something like overloading the immune system with three simultaneous vaccinations, and the public concern about it is largely contained in Europe.

Here in the US, the public awareness is largely about the mercury in Thimerosal. I haven't heard anything about non-Thimerosal vaccines and autism except from Europe.

Although the people who are rabid anti-vaxers probably don't realize the difference.

[geni]

Originally posted by sodakboy93
Actually, this Generation Rescue site is basically an advertisement for DAN! and doctors that do chelation therapy.

http://www.generationrescue.org

Gems from the website include the "hall of fame", a who's who of autism and anti-vaccine quacks:

http://www.generationrescue.org/hall_fame.html

And of course, this non-partisan "parents only" organization managed to scrape up the money to hire a high-powered PR firm and take out a full page ad in USA Today. But of course, only because they care and not because they're trying to sell chelation therapy to the masses.

http://www.generationrescue.org/mediacenter.html

This is so transparent it's not funny. And I'm convinced something fishy is going on, the more I look at it. After, in the space of two years these parents having a normal child, to an autistic child damaged from vaccines, to having a treated child, to then having the gumption and wherewithall to muster forces to build a fancy organization.

In two years? Me thinks the Handleys are front people for the autism quack doctors who are uniting in order to make some real cash...

Strangely I have just had this link thrown at me on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Geni#Geni.27s_talk_.3C.3E_Geni.27s_talk

The whois search throws up an IT company rather than an idividual.

[CurtC]

"Thrown at you"? What does that mean? I read through that link, but with no context, I have no idea what your point is.

[John Jackson]

Chelation therapy could only possibly cure autism in this instance if thiomersal was responsible for causing autism in the first place.

A huge study was done in Denmark and it concluded that thiomersal does not cause autism:

http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band118/b118-5.html

[CFLarsen]

The Handleys are now among a small minority of parents -- who, believing that the autism was caused by the mercury in thimerosal, a preservative that was routinely used in vaccines until recently...

That alone might indicate that we could be winning.

[geni]

Originally posted by CurtC
"Thrown at you"? What does that mean? I read through that link, but with no context, I have no idea what your point is.

The guy is hopeing I'll shut up and go away. He is wrong.

[Dancing David]

This is the problem that I se with the argument,

autism exists, it may be caused by enviromental factors, but it exists, it is not caused by vaccines.

It is like schizophrenia, it occurs in a certain percentage of the population, given certain factors.

It is a pervasive developmental disorder that has no cure and only pallative treatments, in other word you can try to control the effects of autism but not the disorder itself.

There is no sudden increase in aut9ism , it is a differential diagnosis of the developmental disorders , it has always existed, it is just now being differentiated.

The 'chelation' of mercury will do nothing, the child has a PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER, YOU CAN NOT ALTER THE LACK OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAIN CENTERS INVOLVED IN AUTISM.

You can help a child with autism if you intervene early enough with social interventions, but you can not alter the course of the disorder.

It is a vastly overdiagnosed disorder as well, there are many children who recieve the label, by a practioner who has no bussiness making the diagnosis. I have recentlt met a child who was diagnosed with autism by his pediatrician, even though the child engaged in imaginary play, has socialy reciprocal interactions and imagination.

The problem is one of bad treatment , the chelation will do nothing for the child and potentialy will give the parent false hope of what there child will never be able to become.