Research led by Tonya Davis from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, found that chelation therapy does not help with autism. Chelation therapy carries some safety concerns. Parents who are considering having their child go through chelation therapy for autism should keep this in mind.
Chelation therapy is something that started to be used as an alternative treatment for autism based upon the theory that autism was caused by mercury poisoning. Generation Rescue believes that autism is caused by vaccinations. SafeMinds believes that autism is caused by mercury, and other toxicants, from vaccines or environmental exposure.
The Mayo Clinic says:
Chelation therapy is not an effective autism treatment, and it may be dangerous.
The Mayo Clinic goes on to say:
Some doctors and parents have considered chelation therapy as a potential autism treatment. Proponents believe that autism is caused by mercury exposure, such as from childhood vaccines. Chelation therapy supposedly removes mercury from the body, which chelation supporters say cures autism – but there’s no evidence of a link between mercury exposure and autism. In addition, chelation therapy can be associated with serious side effects, including potentially deadly liver and kidney damage.
A study led by Tonya Davis from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, found that chelation therapy does not relieve autism symptoms. The researchers looked at five studies that tested the effects of chelation in children with autism. The studies had between 1, and 41, children in them. The children were between the ages of 3 to 14.
The study that had just 1 child in it was of a 4 year old boy. A report by parents indicated that chelation had positive effects on autism. However, the other four studies (each of which had more than one child in the study), showed mixed results. None of the studies provided any certainty that the benefits seen by parents were due to chelation therapy, and not from another treatment, or due to the children getting older.
Dr Joyce Mauk is the head of the Child Study Center. It is an organization that treats kids with developmental disorders, and it is located in Fort Worth, Texas. She said:
There’s really no evidence that mercury causes autism or has a place in causing autism, and also we know that chelation can be dangerous as well. Even the underlying theories don’t make sense.
She went on to say:
Most children with developmental disabilities, what gets them better is a really skilled therapist and lots of work. If you hear about something when all you do is inject something or take a pill, it’s unlikely to work.
Image by Becky Wetherington on Flickr