Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 02 - In 2005, two young children died of cardiac arrest after receiving treatment with edetate disodium (Na2EDTA) as a chelating agent to lower blood lead levels, according to an article in the March 3rd issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend Na2EDTA as a chelating agent in children because it induces hypocalcemia and possibly fatal tetany, note Dr. R. A. Beauchamp, from the Texas Department of State Health Services, and colleagues. They report that a 2-year-old...

A 5-year-old Monroeville boy died this week during a medical treatment that's being touted by some as a cure for autism. The autistic boy died while receiving chelation -- an intravenous injection of a synthetic amino acid known as EDTA, for ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the practice only to treat heavy metal (such as lead) poisoning. The treatment is becoming increasingly popular, though still controversial, for autism. Police are investigating the boy's death, which occurred Tuesday morning in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry in Portersville.