They also claim that scientific medicine bases treatment decisions on politics and economics, not on evidence from controlled studies. Chelation therapy is not covered by Medicare nor will most insurance companies pay for it. The American Heart Association's Task Force on New and Unestablished Therapies reviewed the available literature on the use of chelation in treating arteriosclerotic heart disease. They found no scientific evidence to demonstrate any benefit from this form of therapy. Chelation therapy is surely a testable therapy.
Advocates maintain that it has been tested and proven to be an effective cure of vascular diseases.
Skeptics, which includes the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, deny that studies support any such claims. Advocates claim that the medical establishment is more interested in making money than in curing diseases. They claim that EDTA is cheap and can't be patented, so there is no big money to be made by pharmaceutical firms. They also claim that surgery is preferred by the medical establishment because it is expensive. To accept the chelation advocates' argument is to accept the notion that the American medical establishment systematically suppresses evidence and persecutes anyone who challenges their monopoly.