Boy Dies During Chelation

This sad story came out yesterday.

A few points that were not in the article:

There are several different types of chelation, DMSA, EDTA, DMPS and ALA, and they are administered in several different ways, oral (capsule or powder), transdermal (lotion) and intravenously.

(We have chosen oral DMSA as it is the safest approach with the longest treatment history, and we have given Chandler long breaks in between with mineral supplementation to replace the essential minerals that can be stripped away with the toxic metals.)

Dr. Jacquelyn McCandless reports that the boy had an allergic reaction to EDTA, but I don’t know if she has some inside information, or if this is her professional opinion based on her practice. If that is the case, this may be an isolated incident, but much more information needs to be released before we can draw to many conclusions.

It has been reported that this is the first case of a child dieing during this process, but I am sure that we will have to wait to hear the final word on that as well.

IV EDTA is not a DAN approved method of chelation, nor was Dr. Kerry a DAN doctor. It has been reported by parents who have worked with him that he is considered a good doctor.

IV EDTA is an FDA approved treatment for metal poisoning and has been for decades. It is a more aggressive form of chelation, and apparently is used most often for serious lead poisoning. If this is what Abubakar had, then despite his autism, as long as the treatment was administered properly (I have heard that IV chelation should be done in hospitals), this would seem a case of an unforeseen reaction to an appropriate treatment. The comparison to vaccine injury has been made by parents in the autism community.

Despite all this, Abubakar’s death illustrates the caution that should be used in approaching chelation.

This episode presents so much information for discussion, and will be investigated and analyzed by the medical and autism communities in depth as details on exactly how and why this happened emerge. Other discussions of the incident can be found here.

While we are waiting for that important information, here is something that should be discussed.

I see this as, among other things, a further indictment of the FDA and the CDC. As I mentioned redundantly in my post, File under: Things That Call For A CDC Study, the health authorities have not, and have no plan to, study chelation for autistic children with metal poisoning.

In that post, I originally wrote that DMSA was only available by prescription, but in the last week I found out that it, along with EDTA, are over the counter drugs.

So... FDA… which is it? Is chelation a potentially dangerous procedure that should only be done under a doctor’s care in a hospital setting? Or should we consider it as safe a cold medicine?

Is mercury safe enough to be injected into babies at 100x the EPA limit? Or is it dangerous enough to shut down an entire school and call in a hazmat team to clean up a dime sized spill?

Will you please give us researched, parsimonious information on autism, metal poisoning and their potential treatments?

Will the death of this child spur health authorities to safety and efficacy studies on the effect that different forms of chelation of metal poisoned autistic children? Or will they just react by saying that this treatment should not be done with out even looking into it?

I want to again call on the FDA and the CDC to DO THEIR JOB and give us guidance on how to treat our children.

UPDATE: Abubakar Tariq Nadama's death was a medical accident. The wrong drug was administered (Disodium EDTA rather than Calcium EDTA) and no one caught the error before it was given to Abubakar.