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US agency cancels plans for autism study on kids

“We recognize that for children there is a fine line for the risk-benefit ratio. You have to be pretty certain of the overall safety of the procedure.”

— Richard Nakamura, scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health

A US government agency has dropped plans for a study of a controversial treatment for autism that critics had called an unethical experiment on children.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) said in a statement on Wednesday that the study of the treatment — called chelation — has been abandoned.

The agency decided the money would be better used testing other therapies for autism.

“There will be parents who are disappointed,” said Richard Nakamura, the scientific director of the NIMH. “We recognize that for children there is a fine line for the risk-benefit ratio. You have to be pretty certain of the overall safety of the procedure.”

The agency was not confident enough in the procedure’s safety, Nakamura said.

The study had been on hold because of safety concerns after another study last year linked a drug used in the treatment to lasting brain problems in rats.

Chelation removes heavy metals from the body and is used to treat lead poisoning. Its use as an autism treatment is based on the fringe theory that mercury in vaccines triggers autism — a theory never proved and rejected by mainstream science.

Mercury hasn’t been in childhood vaccines since 2001, except for certain flu shots.

But many parents of autistic children are believers in the treatment and the NIMH agreed to test it.

The researchers had proposed recruiting 120 autistic children ages four to 10 and giving half a chelation drug and the other half a dummy pill. The 12-week test would measure before-and-after blood mercury levels and autism symptoms.

The study outline said that failing to find a difference between the two groups would counteract “anecdotal reports and widespread belief” that chelation works.
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