Elizabeth Horn, a filmmaker who’s daughter was diagnosed as having autism in 1997, is preparing a film that she hopes will improve people’s views of autism, according to Carolyne Zinko writing in the San Fransisco Chronicle (CA, US). In collaboration with a public broadcasting station, she is examining the stories of nine families where children with autism appeared to improve after chelation therapy. In a related story, Katerine Seligman provides a case study of one child—he received much more than chelation—featured in the film. From Ms. Zinko’s article:
Based partly on personal experience and partly on the experiences of families whose autistic children appear to be recovering with a controversial treatment, Horn created a 60-minute film, “Finding the Words.” The film’s financial sponsor is KTEH San Jose. American Public Television has agreed to submit the film to PBS for a national broadcast in April, which is national Autism Awareness Month.
I have to hope that this film does not promote more widespread use of chelation. I find it a frightening therapy. It is supported by no clear scientific findings, only by subjective case descriptions. It is predicated on an idea that has far greater currency in a conspiracy-theory circles than in scientific circles. And, it is probably dangerous, as the death of a boy during chelation therapy suggests.
Link to Ms. Zinko’s story and link to Ms. Seligman’s story
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I am a teacher in Virginia and I have son that was dx with late-on set autism when he was 4 1/2 years old. I have been chelating my son since he was 5. He regain all his lost speech, became potty trained, and slept at night. These acomplishments occured by being on one month of chelation. With six months of chelation, our son regain eye contact. It has been an amazing experience. I do have to correct you that there is no scientific studies using chelation. It was developed by US Navy and there is many studies in the US, Europe, China, and Japan. All one needs to do is to go to PubMed and anyone could see the research. I would also suggest the book, Evidence of Harm or the website http://www.evidenceofharm.com or go to Dr. Holmes’ Dr. Bradstreet’s, Shaw’s, Dr. James’ websites to see the studies. I would really takea look at the work of Dr. Jill James who is biochemist as well as the work of Dr. Boyd Haley. I have had the privledge to hear both of these scientists speak.
I also need to say something about the boy who died. The verdict is out whether chelation was what caused this boy’s death using EDTA; the family was going to share the information with our group that is very active on the Yahoo groups and which they were a part.
There is no conspriacy - someone just forgot to add up the ingredients when additional vaccines were added to the schedule. I have the Sendate sub-committee tapes which by the way anyone can watch too at http://www.factsformedia.com. You will hear several authorites testify that that it was just a mathematical error - an eighth grade math mistake. The additional mercury burden on some kids was just too much for them.
This burden attacked the neuro and the digestive system allowing for parasites to take over. If you rid the body’s burden of Hg then one can work on the parasites which is where we are now.
I do not know if we will have a totally recovered son - but I now a son that I can say “I love you” and he will say “I love you too” .
Dr. Mary Megson of Virginia in 2002 testified before one of the committee sessions. She is my son’s doctor and you can find more information at http://www.megson.com Dr. Mumper along with a researcher at UVA have been doing replication studies following Dr. Andrew Wakefield.
There is another child in our son’s school that is chelating too - and is making better gains than my son. It appears this child will have total recovery. The school has been great working with us as we venture in this new world of chelation. In Stafford, where I teach, there are several children chelating, all of whom are doing great so far. Like my son, they are making congitive gains and emotional stability without the use of SSRI’s which have been banned in Europe and Canada because long term use leads to OCD or manic depression. IN the US, we have only agreed to put the warning labels.
I do think more people need to be opened about it because I think a lot of children are on more ritalin than need be. Many of them have to be placed on the gluten-free and casein-free diets because they are unable to digest these proteins. All the doctors I mentioned could explain more on their sites or there is an excellent book written by Dr. McCandless called Chilldren With Starving Brains.
We are very open with waht
Thanks for reading EBD Blog and taking the time to comment. Your comments include many engaging points, but I only have time to respond to a one right now. Perhaps I can return to this thread later, picking up on whether what people say in Congress is necessarily true, the nature of evidence, and other points that your comment raises.
First, however, regarding your own situation, let me make myself clear: I am glad that you see improvement in your son. I hope that he continues to improve and that the improvements lead to him enjoying a successful and fullfilling life.
You wrote, “All one needs to do is to go to PubMed and anyone could see the research.” I did so. You are right! There are a lot of entries—greater than 6000 references—refering to “chelation” in PubMed. When I searched for “chelation” and “autism” there were only 5, though. Here they are (with my comments in brackets):
I find no evidence that chelation therapy improves children’s lives in these reports. There is ample speculation, but no objective evidence. This is consistent with what I reported when I investigated the matter previously and examined the reports of research by “Generation Rescue” (see here):
I am interested in securing the best therapies for children and youths with disabilities. I am wary of sending families and teachers on quests for unusual therapies. I want therapies that we can trust to have known and documentable benefits.
http://www.autismmedia.com/ If you go to the media center of this site you will be able to watch Dr. Geier speak along with countless others. I am impressed that you did a search :)It shows you are openminded.
If you go to http://www.factsformedia.com you can find Dr. Bradstreet’s study that chelates children that are ADHD and autistic.
Dr. Richard Deth and Dr. Mady Hornig are the two to look for at the media center at Autism Media under the vaccine-autism connection. Deth has incredible research and so does Hornig.
Sorry I messed up on my earlier post, I am using a very old computer and I can only see part of the screen. I try to do better.
I don’t want to blog anymore on this but always feel free to contact me at my e-mail
http://www.autismmedia.com/ If you go to the media center of this site you will be able to watch Dr. Geier speak along with countless others. I am impressed that you did a search :)It shows you are openminded.
If you go to http://www.factsformedia.com you can find Dr. Bradstreet’s study that looks at chelation with children that are ADHD and autistic.
Dr. Richard Deth and Dr. Mady Hornig are the two to look for at the media center at Autism Media under the vaccine-autism connection.
Sorry I messed up on my earlier post, I am using a very old computer and I can only see part of the screen. I will try to do better.
I don’t want to blog anymore on this but always feel free to contact me at my e-mail
http://www.generationrescue.org/evidence_reports.html
O.K. I broke my promise but I do not think you saw the same thing
I saw - the link above is where the studies are kept. Drs. Deth and James are located there as well as Hornig - but there is others.