Claim: Chelation based on faulty premise
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Chelation therapy
text: PVD." The same critics argued that methodological flaws and lack of prior probability made the trial "unethical, dangerous, pointless, and wasteful." The American College of Cardiology supported the trial and research to explore whether chelation therapy was effective in treating heart disease. Evidence of insurance fraud and other felony convictions among (chelation proponent) investigators further undermined the credibility of the trial. Quackwatch says that autism is one of the conditions for which chelation therapy has been falsely promoted as effective, and practitioners falsify diagnoses of metal poisoning to "trick" parents into having their children undergo the risky process. , up

title: Doctor's Data
text: as having toxic metal poisoning based on their urinalysis tests, and then prescribing them chelation therapy. According to Patricia Callahan, the problem with these tests and the way they are interpreted is that, after administering a chelator to their patients, "Doctor's Data...compared those drug-provoked results to a reference range calculated for people who had never been given a chelation drug." In addition, they have faced considerable criticism from Stephen Barrett, who has described how provoked urine test reports are used to mislead patients. and has also written negatively about hair analysis in general, which he contends is "unscientific, economically wasteful,

title: Chelation therapy
text: cancer. Chelation therapy can be toxic and has the potential to cause kidney damage, irregular heartbeat, and even death." The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) conducted a trial on the chelation therapy's safety and efficacy for patients with coronary artery disease. NCCAM Director Stephen E. Straus cited the "widespread use of chelation therapy in lieu of established therapies, the lack of adequate prior research to verify its safety and effectiveness, and the overall impact of coronary artery disease" as factors motivating the trial. The study has been criticized by some who said it was unethical, unnecessary

title: Chelation
text: of the tooth and generated very weak water resistance chemical bonding (2–3 MPa). Chelation therapy is used as antidotes for poisoning by mercury, arsenic, and lead. Chelating agents convert these metal ions into a chemically and biochemically inert form that can be excreted. Chelation using calcium disodium EDTA has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for serious cases of lead poisoning. It is not approved for treating "heavy metal toxicity". Although beneficial in cases of serious lead poisoning, use of disodium EDTA (edetate disodium) instead of calcium disodium EDTA has resulted in fatalities due to hypocalcemia.

title: Chelation therapy
text: making unsubstantiated advertising claims that chelation therapy is effective against atherosclerosis or any other disease of the circulatory system. In August 2005, doctor error led to the death of a five-year-old autistic boy who was undergoing chelation therapy. Others, including a three-year-old nonautistic girl and a nonautistic adult, have died while undergoing chelation therapy. These deaths were due to cardiac arrest caused by hypocalcemia during chelation therapy. In two of the cases hypocalcemia appears to have been caused by the administration of Na2EDTA (disodium EDTA) and in the third case the type of EDTA was unknown. Only the 3-year-old girl

title: Chelation therapy
text: Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American College of Cardiology "all agree with the American Heart Association" that "there have been no adequate, controlled, published scientific studies using currently approved scientific methodology to support this therapy for cardiovascular disease." They speculate that any improvement among heart patients undergoing chelation therapy can be attributed to the placebo effect and generally recommended lifestyle changes such as "quitting smoking, losing weight, eating more fruits and vegetables, avoiding foods high in saturated fats and exercising regularly." They also are concerned that patients could put off proven treatments for heart

title: Jenny McCarthy
text: don't work for others. ... When something didn't work for Evan, I didn't stop. I stopped that treatment, but I didn't stop." McCarthy has stated on talk shows and at rallies that chelation therapy helped her son recover from autism. The underlying rationale for chelation, the speculation that mercury in vaccines causes autism, has been roundly rejected by scientific studies, with the National Institute of Mental Health concluding that children with autism are unlikely to receive any benefit to balance the risks of heart attack, stroke and cardiac arrest posed by the chelating agents used in the treatment. McCarthy's public

title: Chelation therapy
text: various health organizations have confirmed that medical evidence does not support the effectiveness of chelation therapy for any purpose other than the treatment of heavy metal poisoning. Over-the-counter chelation products are not approved for sale in the United States. Chelation therapy is the preferred medical treatment for metal poisoning, including acute mercury, iron (including in cases of sickle-cell disease and thalassemia), arsenic, lead, uranium, plutonium and other forms of toxic metal poisoning. The chelating agent may be administered intravenously, intramuscularly, or orally, depending on the agent and the type of poisoning. There are a variety of common chelating agents with

title: Metal toxicity
text: should be validated with tests done in appropriate biological samples. Chelation therapy is administered under very careful medical supervision due to various inherent risks. Even when the therapy is administered properly, the chelation drugs can have significant side effects. Chelation administered inappropriately can cause neurodevelopmental toxicity, increase risk of developing cancer, and cause death; chelation also removes essential metal elements and requires measures to prevent their loss. Aluminium has no known biological role and its classification into toxic metals is controversial. Acute aluminium phosphide poisoning (AAlPP) is a large, though under-reported, problem in the Indian subcontinent. Aluminium phosphide (AlP), which

title: Chelation therapy
text: had found to have an elevated blood lead level and resulting low iron levels and anemia, which is the conventional medical cause for administration of chelation therapy. According to protocol, EDTA should not be used in the treatment of children. More than 30 deaths have been recorded in association with IV-administered disodium EDTA since the 1970s. In alternative medicine, some practitioners claim chelation therapy can treat a variety of ailments, including heart disease and autism. The use of chelation therapy by alternative medicine practitioners for behavioral and other disorders is considered pseudoscientific; there is no proof that it is effective.

title: Chelation therapy
text: the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes among stable patients with a history of myocardial infarction. The study also showed a "marked" reduction in cardiovascular events in diabetic patients treated with EDTA chelation. An editorial published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" said that "the study findings may provide novel hypotheses that merit further evaluation to help understand the pathophysiology of secondary prevention of vascular disease." Critics of the study characterized the study as showing no support for the use of chelation therapy in coronary heart disease, particularly the claims to reduce the need for coronary artery bypass grafting

title: Chelation therapy
text: disease like drugs or surgery. A systematic review published in 2005 found that controlled scientific studies did not support chelation therapy for heart disease. It found that very small trials and uncontrolled descriptive studies have reported benefits while larger controlled studies have found results no better than placebo. In 2009, the Montana Board of Medical Examiners issued a position paper concluding that "chelation therapy has no proven efficacy in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, and in some patients could be injurious." The final results of TACT were published in November 2012. The authors concluded that disodium EDTA chelation "modestly" reduced

title: Chelation
text: surfaces. In earth science, chemical weathering is attributed to organic chelating agents ("e.g.", peptides and sugars) that extract metal ions from minerals and rocks. Most metal complexes in the environment and in nature are bound in some form of chelate ring ("e.g.", with a humic acid or a protein). Thus, metal chelates are relevant to the mobilization of metals in the soil, the uptake and the accumulation of metals into plants and microorganisms. Selective chelation of heavy metals is relevant to bioremediation ("e.g.", removal of Cs from radioactive waste). In the 1960s, scientists developed the concept of chelating a metal

title: Chelation therapy
text: low blood calcium, harm to kidneys, increased enzymes as would be detected in liver function tests, allergic reactions, and lowered levels of dietary elements. When administered inappropriately, there are the additional risks of hypocalcaemia (low calcium levels), neurodevelopmental disorders, and death Chelation therapy can be traced back to the early 1930s, when Ferdinand Munz, a German chemist working for I.G. Farben, first synthesized ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Munz was looking for a replacement for citric acid as a water softener. Chelation therapy itself began during World War II when chemists at the University of Oxford searched for an antidote for lewisite,

title: Chelation therapy
text: In addition to being ineffective, chelation therapy prior to heavy metal testing can artificially raise urinary heavy metal concentrations (“provoked” urine testing) and lead to inappropriate and unnecessary treatment. The American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology warn the public that chelating drugs used in chelation therapy may have serious side effects, including liver and kidney damage, blood pressure changes, allergies and in some cases even death of the patient. The American Cancer Society says of chelation therapy: "Available scientific evidence does not support claims that it is effective for treating other conditions such as

title: Chelation therapy
text: to 7% of children worldwide with autism had been subjected to chelation therapy. The death of two children in 2005 was caused by the administration of chelation treatments, according to the American Center for Disease Control. One of them was autistic. Parents either have a doctor use a treatment for lead poisoning, or buy unregulated supplements, in particular DMSA and lipoic acid. Aspies For Freedom, an autism rights organization, considers this use of chelation therapy unethical and potentially dangerous. There is little to no credible scientific research that supports the use of chelation therapy for the effective treatment of autism.

title: Chelation therapy
text: Chelation therapy Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very specific medical treatments, although it is administered under very careful medical supervision due to various inherent risks. Chelation therapy must be administered with care as it has a number of possible side effects, including death. In response to increasing use of chelation therapy as alternative medicine and in circumstances in which the therapy should not be used in conventional medicine,

title: Chelation therapy
text: Chelation therapy Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very specific medical treatments, although it is administered under very careful medical supervision due to various inherent risks. Chelation therapy must be administered with care as it has a number of possible side effects, including death. In response to increasing use of chelation therapy as alternative medicine and in circumstances in which the therapy should not be used in conventional medicine,

title: Chelation
text: Chelation Chelation (, ) is a type of bonding of ions and molecules to metal ions. It involves the formation or presence of two or more separate coordinate bonds between a polydentate (multiple bonded) ligand and a single central atom. These ligands are called chelants, chelators, chelating agents, or sequestering agents. They are usually organic compounds. Chelation is useful in applications such as providing nutritional supplements, in chelation therapy to remove toxic metals from the body, as contrast agents in MRI scanning, in manufacturing using homogeneous catalysts, in chemical water treatment to assist in the removal of metals, and in

title: Chelation therapy
text: and dangerous, and that multiple studies conducted in prior to it demonstrated that the treatment provides no benefit. According to the findings of a 1997 systematic review, EDTA chelation therapy is not effective as a treatment for coronary artery disease and this use is not approved in the United States by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Several possible mechanisms for its efficacy have been proposed, though none have been scientifically validated. The American Heart Association stated in 1997 that there is "no scientific evidence to demonstrate any benefit from this form of therapy." The United States Food and