Questions About Chelation's "Safety" Arise Again

Chelation is one of the numerous biomedical treatments that parents of autistic children have turned to, in the hopes of "treating" their child. Numerous concerns have been raised about the safety of chelation; last year, an NIMH study was called off for this very reason. The March 13th News Channel 5 raises concerns about chelation after the death last year of 6-year-old Anna Starr, who had epilepsy. An autopsy stated that Anna's death was "natural" and caused by a seizure disorder. However:

But, nearly a year later, investigators served a search warrant on what used to be the Center For Proactive Medicine, a clinic on music row [in Nashville]. The warrant raises questions about the role alternative therapies played in Anna's death.

Investigators were looking for evidence of child abuse and criminally negligent homicide.

According to the search warrant, Anna received chelation therapy, an alternative treatment for epilepsy, just days before she died.

In an interview, Anna's parents, Fred and Sarah Starr, who are both doctors, claimed that Anna's 2 1/2 year old brother "no longer had autism because of a series of alternative therapies"; 2 1/2 is an age when children tend to be diagnosed with autism.

On August 23, 2005, Abubakar Tariq Nadama died after receiving treatment in the office of Pennsylvania Dr. Roy Kerry. Some discussion of the the role of chelation in Abubakar's death is here on an Autism Vox post I wrote from July of 2007.