"Camille Clark wants proof that transdermal DMPS (dimercapto-propane
sulphonate) does indeed chelate mercury in autistic children. As some
mothers have pointed out, effective chelation depletes essential minerals at
the same time as removing toxic minerals and is therefore potentially
dangerous, particularly for epileptic children. Epileptic children are likely to
be manganese deficient and should not be subject to further lowering of their
manganese levels.1"
Ms. Grant has missed the point of what I said. I have no doubt that chelation
can strip the body of essential minerals. And I have no doubt that it can be
very dangerous, and in fact many people would say that all the do-it-yourself
chelation attempts by parents of autistic children are foolhardy. Tampering
with the disposition of metals in the body and the levels of essential minerals
is bound to harm some people.
Oral DMPS (2,3,-dimercaptopropane-1-sulfonate) and oral DMSA
(dimercaptosuccinic acid) (1) contain sulfer to which mercury and apparently
other minerals and metals are attracted. When a person takes either of these,
that person's urine changes odor, sometimes very noticeably. This is a bit of
evidence of its activity in the body, as I understand it.
Transdermal DMPS, is a very popular chelator at the moment with
parents of autistic children (and a cure which is very highly praised in David
Kirby's book). I have been told that when it is applied to a child's skin it
does not result in the child's urine changing odor. Perhaps this is
evidence that it is not entering the child's body.
Further, I
understand
that the structure of the DMPS molecule is such that one would not
expect it to cross the skin barrier.
This is what I wish to see proven
by a neutral party, also if DMPS does cross the barrier of the skin, to what
degree does it do so?
Dr. Buttar, patent holder on a popular form of TD DMPS (which has other
ingredients besides DMPS), apparently does
not know the answer to this question. I include a link to a .pdf file (2) which
contains Dr. Buttar's comments on TD DMPS. He writes that he does not
know the half-life of TD DMPS but plans to tag the material with radioactivity
in order to find out it's half-life. In his description of his experimental use of
TD DMPS, refers to a "Hertizmer's reaction", perhaps he meant a
"Herxheimer's reaction". I have looked to see if Dr. Buttar has any published
studies. I can't find any.
Being a skeptical person I have to wonder about TD DMPS, its effectiveness
and its safety in children. It is not enough to hear testimonials by parents,
especially since the nature of autism includes regressions and developmental
leaps forward. These have happened to children who are not being chelated.
Autistic people who are now adults have described what it's like to be in a
regression and what it's like for abilites and understanding to "come
together", sometimes suddenly. These people were not being
chelated.
Some parents credit Applied Behavioral Analysis (without
chelation) with the same kinds of developmental victories that the parents
who are chelating their kids describe.
Congential rubella syndrome can cause symptoms of autism. This is the
abstract of a journal article written by Stella Chess M.D. and
published in 1977, (3)
"A longitudinal study was conducted of 243 children with congenital rubella.
In this sample a high rate of autism and a high rate of recovery were
observed. Examination of the data suggested that the rubella virus was the
primary etiologic agent. It is hypothesized that the course of autism was that
of a chronic infection in which recovery, chronicity, improvement, worsening,
and delayed appearance of the autistic syndrome all were found. Other
rubella consequences such as blindness, deafness, and cardiac and
neuromuscular defects remained present except as modified by operations
and prostheses. Degree of mental retardation initially was related to the
outcome of autism but shifts in mental retardation over time did not correlate
significantly for the group with shift in the autistic symptoms."
It's
interesting to me that the name of the publication the article was published in
is, "Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia. Autism used to be called
"childhood schizophrenia" and for a while the two terms were used
interchangeably.
My point in sharing this abstract is that even in the case of autistic children
with brain damage from prental viral exposure (rubella), there were cases of
"recovery". One must assume that that recovery had nothing to do with
chelation. So mere "recovery" on the part of children undergoing chelation,
proves nothing. However, since so many parents believe that chelation (or
possibly sham chelation) has "recovered" their children, then we need studies
to show that this is the case. Until then parents, doctors, and even authors
such as David Kirby, should not be so confident in attributing improvement in
presumed autistic children to chelation. This is just common sense.
I
highly recommend that people with the "real audio" player on their computers
listen to an interview (4) which can be found on cityvisionsradio.com at http:
//www.cityvisionsradio.com/archive.html . The interviewees are Dr. Bryna
Siegal, of University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, of
University of California at Davis, and principal investigator of a large
epidemiological study on autism currently under way, and Rick Rollens a
parent activist. The interview is about an hour long. In it Dr. Hertz-Picciotto
reveals some concern about chelation and the lab tests that some parents
produce to "prove" mercury toxicity in their children.
I am a person who is
on the autism spectrum and I have a child who is likewise on the autism
spectrum and who also has some serious genetically caused health problems.
My child went through about 13 surgeries, 2 of them were very dangerous.
Most parents of autistic children don't have to deal with surgeries. I
thoroughly understand the difficulties of all parents of ill and disabled
children. I also rejoice at the wonderful gifts and endlessly kind heart my
autism spectrum child has.
Additionally, for the record, I believe that
parents of disabled children, particularly poor and "working poor" parents,
deserve whatever help they need to take care of their children. This is so
obvious to me, but in the United States sometimes children suffer because it
seems there is no will to provide all the services that disabled children need.
Rapid Response:
TD DMPS - popular autism "cure"
Ellen C G Grant wrote the following:
"Camille Clark wants proof that transdermal DMPS (dimercapto-propane
sulphonate) does indeed chelate mercury in autistic children. As some
mothers have pointed out, effective chelation depletes essential minerals at
the same time as removing toxic minerals and is therefore potentially
dangerous, particularly for epileptic children. Epileptic children are likely to
be manganese deficient and should not be subject to further lowering of their
manganese levels.1"
Ms. Grant has missed the point of what I said. I have no doubt that chelation
can strip the body of essential minerals. And I have no doubt that it can be
very dangerous, and in fact many people would say that all the do-it-yourself
chelation attempts by parents of autistic children are foolhardy. Tampering
with the disposition of metals in the body and the levels of essential minerals
is bound to harm some people.
Oral DMPS (2,3,-dimercaptopropane-1-sulfonate) and oral DMSA
(dimercaptosuccinic acid) (1) contain sulfer to which mercury and apparently
other minerals and metals are attracted. When a person takes either of these,
that person's urine changes odor, sometimes very noticeably. This is a bit of
evidence of its activity in the body, as I understand it.
Transdermal DMPS, is a very popular chelator at the moment with
parents of autistic children (and a cure which is very highly praised in David
Kirby's book). I have been told that when it is applied to a child's skin it
does not result in the child's urine changing odor. Perhaps this is
evidence that it is not entering the child's body.
Further, I
understand
that the structure of the DMPS molecule is such that one would not
expect it to cross the skin barrier.
This is what I wish to see proven
by a neutral party, also if DMPS does cross the barrier of the skin, to what
degree does it do so?
Dr. Buttar, patent holder on a popular form of TD DMPS (which has other
ingredients besides DMPS), apparently does
not know the answer to this question. I include a link to a .pdf file (2) which
contains Dr. Buttar's comments on TD DMPS. He writes that he does not
know the half-life of TD DMPS but plans to tag the material with radioactivity
in order to find out it's half-life. In his description of his experimental use of
TD DMPS, refers to a "Hertizmer's reaction", perhaps he meant a
"Herxheimer's reaction". I have looked to see if Dr. Buttar has any published
studies. I can't find any.
Being a skeptical person I have to wonder about TD DMPS, its effectiveness
and its safety in children. It is not enough to hear testimonials by parents,
especially since the nature of autism includes regressions and developmental
leaps forward. These have happened to children who are not being chelated.
Autistic people who are now adults have described what it's like to be in a
regression and what it's like for abilites and understanding to "come
together", sometimes suddenly. These people were not being
chelated.
Some parents credit Applied Behavioral Analysis (without
chelation) with the same kinds of developmental victories that the parents
who are chelating their kids describe.
Congential rubella syndrome can cause symptoms of autism. This is the
abstract of a journal article written by Stella Chess M.D. and
published in 1977, (3)
"A longitudinal study was conducted of 243 children with congenital rubella.
In this sample a high rate of autism and a high rate of recovery were
observed. Examination of the data suggested that the rubella virus was the
primary etiologic agent. It is hypothesized that the course of autism was that
of a chronic infection in which recovery, chronicity, improvement, worsening,
and delayed appearance of the autistic syndrome all were found. Other
rubella consequences such as blindness, deafness, and cardiac and
neuromuscular defects remained present except as modified by operations
and prostheses. Degree of mental retardation initially was related to the
outcome of autism but shifts in mental retardation over time did not correlate
significantly for the group with shift in the autistic symptoms."
It's
interesting to me that the name of the publication the article was published in
is, "Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia. Autism used to be called
"childhood schizophrenia" and for a while the two terms were used
interchangeably.
My point in sharing this abstract is that even in the case of autistic children
with brain damage from prental viral exposure (rubella), there were cases of
"recovery". One must assume that that recovery had nothing to do with
chelation. So mere "recovery" on the part of children undergoing chelation,
proves nothing. However, since so many parents believe that chelation (or
possibly sham chelation) has "recovered" their children, then we need studies
to show that this is the case. Until then parents, doctors, and even authors
such as David Kirby, should not be so confident in attributing improvement in
presumed autistic children to chelation. This is just common sense.
I
highly recommend that people with the "real audio" player on their computers
listen to an interview (4) which can be found on cityvisionsradio.com at http:
//www.cityvisionsradio.com/archive.html . The interviewees are Dr. Bryna
Siegal, of University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, of
University of California at Davis, and principal investigator of a large
epidemiological study on autism currently under way, and Rick Rollens a
parent activist. The interview is about an hour long. In it Dr. Hertz-Picciotto
reveals some concern about chelation and the lab tests that some parents
produce to "prove" mercury toxicity in their children.
I am a person who is
on the autism spectrum and I have a child who is likewise on the autism
spectrum and who also has some serious genetically caused health problems.
My child went through about 13 surgeries, 2 of them were very dangerous.
Most parents of autistic children don't have to deal with surgeries. I
thoroughly understand the difficulties of all parents of ill and disabled
children. I also rejoice at the wonderful gifts and endlessly kind heart my
autism spectrum child has.
Additionally, for the record, I believe that
parents of disabled children, particularly poor and "working poor" parents,
deserve whatever help they need to take care of their children. This is so
obvious to me, but in the United States sometimes children suffer because it
seems there is no will to provide all the services that disabled children need.
Camille Clark
(1) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202664.html
(2) http://www.drhirani.com/TD-DMPS-1.pdf#search='DMPStd
(3) Chess S. Follow-up report on autism in congenital rubella. Joural of
Autism and Child Schizophrenia 1977 Mar;7(1):69-81.
(4) http://www.cityvisionsradio.com/archivenew/050404.ram
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests