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KNTV-TV
3:54 p.m. PST March 3, 2006
A treatment for lead poisoning that's been around for decades is now being
used to treat autistic children. Some parents say chelation is bringing
about dramatic change, but it is also bringing about controversy.
Josh Shoemaker, almost 4, is not his old self, his parents are happy to say.
Angie Shoemaker, Josh's mom, says, "It's just not even comparable. He's just
not the same child."
Josh was diagnosed with autism a year ago. His parents say Josh barely
spoke, rarely responded and had slid into his own world as was captured in
home video from June.
His father, Scott, said, "He used to spin himself in circles constantly, we
were losing him daily."
But within five months, Josh was talking and responsive. The Shoemakers
credit a treatment called chelation, outlined in a recent edition of
Mothering Magazine.
Josh's parents spread a sulfur-based cream on his skin, a compound that they
and doctors who prescribe it say roots out toxins like mercury from the
body, which they blame for Josh's autism.
Dr. Phil De Meio believes in chelation therapy for autism.
"The sulfur grabs onto the mercury like a magnet, so our body can exrete it
where it would never have the ability to do that on its own without
something like this," De Meio said.
There is far from consensus about what causes autism, NBC11's Brooke Hart
reported.
Most doctors see no place for chelation and dealing with it.
Two years ago, the Centers for Disease Control commissioned a report that
found no evidence of a mercury-autism link.
Mercury's other effects on children are a concern, however.
The Food and Drug Administration warns pregnant women to avoid certain fish
and has had a mercury ingredient removed from most vaccines.
But can chelation, a treatment big insurers cover for mercury poisoning,
help against autism? One pediatrician cautioned that Josh's progress, though
dramatic, is not proof.
"Why is he improved? I don't know. Would he (have) improved on his own? I
don't know. But as of now, mercury is not a cause of autism based on the
studies we know now the chelation is now an acceptable form of treatment for
autism."
Josh's parents and speech therapist say it is proof to them that it works.
"Josh is the only child I've ever worked with that I can say he's going to
go to kindergarten being a perfectly normal kindergartner, and he was not a
perfectly normal 2-year-old and it's chelation that did it," Nancy McCloskey
said.
His mother, Angie, agrees. "It is like he went from his world into ours."
His parents are convinced that they found the solution for him.
Chelation is FDA approved only to treat lead poisoning.
Federal researchers are looking into whether it can help heart patients by
draining calcium from clogged arteries.
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