Chelation, from the Greek “to claw” is a safe and effective therapy for drawing toxins and metabolic wastes from the bloodstream. Chelating agents administered intravenously or orally have been proven to increase blood flow and remove arterial plaque. It has been shown to reverse atherosclerosis and prevent heart attacks and strokes. It has been safely and successfully used as an alternative to bypass surgery and angioplasty. Not to mention saving gangrenous limbs from amputation, relieving vascular related vision, treatment for antiaging and cerebral/memory problems, the removal of heavy metals and an effective adjuvant therapy for cancer.
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Of all the regimens you can use to help a patient combat degenerative disease and restore health, chelation therapy is the most powerful”, so says Robert Haskell MD, a prominent US physician from San Rafael, California.
Chelation therapy has been known about for 60 years or so and if it’s so dam’ good why isn’t it used more often and why do so many people know nothing about it?
I will give you one guess.
Yup, you got it MONEY!
Radix Malorum Est!
Chelation therapy involves the infusion of a drug many times safer than simple aspirin called EDTA and I’d stick with the acronym if I were you as the full name is ethylenediamintetraacetic acid. It has been used safely and successfully, often with dramatic results, on somewhere approaching a million Americans over the past 50 years and yet is not approved by the FDA for any other purpose than the treatment of lead and heavy metal toxicity.
The thing is - you see, the patent on EDTA has long expired. There’s just no money in it. No pharmaceutical company will invest the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary before the FDA will allow its use for anything else but metal toxicity.
If you think this is an isolated instance, think again. There are literally thousands of life-saving treatments out there that have been known about for decades but millions die unnecessarily because without the backing of a major organisation no one will spend the US$800 million or so required to obtain regulatory approval or invest the relatively small amount it would take to produce and make available. Just this last week news comes of a drug variant of HDL (the good cholesterol) which dramatically reduces arterial plaque in a matter of weeks. The much-hyped statin drugs take years to do a lot less. The beneficial effect of HDL in plaque reduction has been known for four decades. So why did we have to wait so long? And it will be years more before this treatment will be allowed, if at all. Answer? Because HDL is cheap and in the public domain, you can’t patent it. Get the picture.....?
A Non-Invasive Option....?
Norton Hadler, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine wrote way back in 1992, only 3 to 5% of the million or so angioplasties and bypass operations performed in 1991 were justifiable and that more than 20,000 deaths had occurred in that year as a result of these procedures. In the 12 years since Professor Hadler wrote those words the number of such procedures has multiplied hugely. So have the deaths. You’d have thought treatments like chelation and HDL infusion that are both cheap and effective would be on the fast track to approval and the widest possible use. Nah.... They’d ban it if they could, and keep it quiet as poss if they can’t.
So if the drug companies won’t make these cheap drugs, which would save our lives, why don’t our governments do it? Why if there are so many cheap ways to prevent disease, alleviate suffering and avoid tens of millions untimely deaths doesn’t government fund the necessary research and funding needed? Don’t they care about such things?
These are all very good questions and there are no good answers I’m afraid. Whatever you may hear about the huge costs it faces, just know that the pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable industry in the world for the past 20 years or more in terms of annual return on investment, and that’s the only criteria that really counts. They spend immense amounts of money to prevent anything so sensible but damaging to profits to become commonly available. The medical establishment has been co-opted by Big Pharma, as have most government regulatory bodies. When they take early retirement from the FDA, whom do you think these guys go and work for?
Governments are notoriously bad at taking any action in such matters unless things get so bad (the total breakdown of our medical welfare system might do it; being voted out - for sure!)) that there is an irresistible public outcry compeling them to act. That is not going to happen, dear reader, until you and millions like you understand how this game is played and do something about it. Until that good day dawns you need to reconcile yourself to the fact that millions of us will continue to die unnecessarily.
How Do You Do It?
Chelation therapy is usually performed on an out-patient basis, is painless and takes three to four hours a session. For optimal results physicians recommend 20 to 30 treatments given at an average rate of 2 to 3 per week with evaluations made at regular intervals, pre and post. The patient reclines comfortably and is given an intravenous solution of EDTA with vitamins and minerals.
The problem with this treatment is twofold. Because chelation is not FDA-approved it is not usually covered by insurance and since the treatment is quite prolonged, requires so many sessions, plus all the tests needed, chelation can become quite expensive for the individual. Secondly, if you don’t live near a qualified physician who can do perform the therapy it is impractical for many.
Doing it Orally....
In which case the solution might be oral chelation. When taken orally EDTA provides most of its chelating activities, even though only about 5% of the EDTA is actually absorbed. The chelating effects are less dramatic and slower than when received intravenously, but the oral method has several advantages including convenience, long-term continuous health maintenance and low cost. There are also natural nutritional chelators such as garlic, vitamin C, zinc and amino acids like cysteine and methionine. Dr. Garry F. Gordon of Tempe, AZ, who’s used chelation for many years says he consistently sees patients of his using oral chelation reducing serum cholesterol levels by 20% and more. “Thousands of patients who have visited our clinic and who have followed our oral chelation program have all successfully avoided strokes, and heart attacks have been greatly diminished”, he says. However he goes on to note that, “the intravenous approach is clearly the proper choice for patients who have only a few months to get well before facing major surgery or worse”.
Checking It Out....
Anyone interested in chelation therapy should make sure to choose a doctor who follows the protocols of the American Board of Chelation Therapy (ABCT), the American College of Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) or equivalent European or Australian body and can show several years experience.
Prior to chelation, a complete physical examination that includes a heart function test, hair mineral analysis, ECG, stress test and doppler flow analysis should be conducted.
EDTA dosage should be individualised for each patient according to age, sex, weight and kidney function and should be administered slowly over 3 or more hours.
Treatment should only be administered by staff members trained to deal with any symptoms that might occur and a qualified physician should be on the premises at all times.
If you want to learn more about chelation contact:
American Board of Chelation Therapy (ABCT)
Chicago, IL
(312) 266 7246
www.acam.org
American College of Advancement in Medicine (ACAM)
Laguna Hills, CA
(714) 583 7666
www.acbt.info
Further reading:
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Bypassing Bypass” - Dr. Elmer Cranton; “Chelation Extends Life”, Dr. Julian James; “The Chelation Way”, Walker & Morten; “40 Something Forever!”, Brecher, Harold & Arline; “The Healing Powers of Chelation Therapy”, Dr. John Trowbridge; “The Scientific Basis of EDTA Chelation Therapy”, alstead, Bruce & Colton.
