NIH Cancels Study of Chelation as Autism Treatment
If some people are using a treatment that most doctors think doesn’t work and may involve some real risks, should public health officials study the intervention to get clear answers? That’s an ethically tricky question.
The National Institute of Mental Health had proposed a study (described here) of a therapy called chelation to treat children with autism. Chelation, which is used to remove metals from the body, is popular among some parents, but most doctors and public health officials say there’s scant evidence its effective in treating autism.
Yesterday, NIMH said it wouldn’t go forward with the study, which has been under discussion for a couple of years but never got started. An institutional review board that assessed the study found a while back that “there was no clear evidence for direct benefit to the children who would participate in the chelation trial and that the study presents more than a minimal risk,” NIMH said in a statement.
A subtext here is the issue of mercury, which has been used as a preservative in some vaccines (though most pediatric vaccines no longer contain it). Some parents connect mercury, vaccines and autism, and they say chelation can remove mercury and treat autism. But the […]
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