Haley's Chelator: For Cats or for Kids? · 2008-04-26 14:30

In the wake of Poling v. HHS — the first Vaccine Injury Compensation Program case in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding that has resulted in an award of compensation — online autism forums have been teeming with discussions of mitochondrial dysfunction and its indicators. Among the participants in these discussions is Dr. Kenneth P. Stoller.

Dr. Stoller originally attended the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, but was dismissed in 1979 for poor academic performance; instructors observed that he did a “minimum amount of work,” was a “procrastinator, undependable, tardy, inconstant, and irresponsible,” and displayed “seemingly little ability to be critical.” After unsuccessfully pursuing a lawsuit against the school alleging that the College had acted arbitrarily and capriciously and had violated his right to due process (Stoller v. College of Medicine, 562 F. Supp. 403, 412 (M.D. Pa. 1983)), he completed his medical education in 1982 at the then-nascent American University of the Caribbean. Since obtaining his medical license, Dr. Stoller has established himself as a practitioner of “alternative treatments” for chronic medical conditions, founding the Hyperbaric Medical Center of New Mexico and serving as President of the International Hyperbaric Medical Association. In recent years, he has promoted himself as an expert on autism and its treatment, spoken at numerous autism conferences, and marketed his insights in online courses such as “Thimerosal and Aspartame as cofactors in the Autism Epidemic.”

Early this morning on the Environment of Harm list (formerly Evidence of Harm), Dr. Stoller responded to a mother who had stated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy had “minimally helped” her autistic child, and suggested another treatment possibility soon to be unleashed upon the world by Prof. Boyd Haley of the University of Kentucky. Dr. Stoller’s advice to these parents provides telling evidence of the ethical standards of certain scientific and medical entrepreneurs who promote experimental pharmaceutical treatments for autistic children on the premise that they are suffering from “mercury poisoning.”

Mother #1: “[M]ore than 90 sessions of HBOT… minimally helped him, except for improvement in some motor skills like swinging but not language, it also after running blood tests increased his oxiodative stress levels. To this day he still has trouble lifting things, like shopping bag and his poryphrins are still very high especially in mercury after all the major intensive biomedical interventions and detox.”

Dr. Stoller: “This brings up the issue of when to use HBOT to treat children who have not been able to get their heavy metal issues resolved. To wake up neurons or mitochondria only to have them swimming in the same sea of poison that made them dysfunctional in the first place is counter-intuitive.
I do not know what you have tried so far, but I will tell you that in just a few months, Dr. Haley’s OSR will be available for your cats. This is a non-toxic chelator that pulls mercury out in days not weeks, or moths, but days without side effects.”

Mother #2: “Do you know what this Cat chelator will be called when its released?”

Dr. Stoller: “It is being called OSR right now and is a strong antioxidant. That is all I know other than the application is in at the FDA for an NPI which normally only takes 75 days and often less time than that. It can be marketed to cats once the NPI has been issued.”

Mother #3: “I was thinking there was going to be a chelator for kids!! Is he testing it on cats first?”

Dr. Stoller: “you have a cat don’t you?”

Mother #4: “Could off-label use extend to using a vet med on humans :)?”

Dr. Stoller: “If you go to the supper market and buy cat food and eat it yourself, no one is going to stop you from eating cat food. It is not against the law to eat cat food.”

Mother #6: “I have a cat, now. I will name her invisicat. The advantage being she is silent, inexpensive to feed, uses an invisible litter box (no stank – I like this!), and can keep my invisible animals (who drink the milk I buy “for pet consumption only”) company!!!!”

How soon will it be before Dr. Stoller’s suggestions inspire a flood of inquiries to veterinary medical suppliers from parents seeking to determine the effective dose of Prof. Haley’s new chelator for a 78-pound cat?

Comments


  1. Great…first the autistic mice, now cats are in need of chelation. What’s next? ABA for parrots who don’t speak? The epidemic of nonsense continues to spread…

    — Bev    2008-04-26 15:18    #

  2. For heaven’s sake, does it not occur to these people that if they have to sneak around and wink and nod, maybe it’s a sign that they’re doing something that’s WRONG? This is utterly revolting.

    — isles    2008-04-26 16:22    #

  3. Mrs. Wink-Wink-Nudge-“Invisicat” isn’t even willing to get a real cat and try it out on the cat to see what happens… no she’s going to give it to her… uhm… child? So is it oral or injected? Surely it will “work” better if it’s an injectible, just like methyl B12 “works better” because it’s an injectible. I wonder how much money Haley intends to make off of his cat chelator. I bet it costs a lot more to chelate a 78 pound “cat” than a 7 pound cat.

    — Ms. Clark    2008-04-26 17:29    #

  4. Bev: Note that chelation does have to be done legitimately in animals, just as there are legitimate uses in humans.

    It’s in fact quite common in birds, who are highly susceptible to heavy-metal poisoning. But at least when done in birds, it’s also done within decent parameters: It can’t be done more than a certain number of times because it could simply kill the bird.

    It seems like some people want to do away with these sensible safeguards when it comes to autistic humans…

    — Amanda    2008-04-26 17:35    #

  5. Er, I should’ve made clear in that comment, that the humans in question are almost never actually heavy-metal-poisoned in the first place…

    — Amanda    2008-04-26 17:37    #

  6. Right now I am in a flare up of IBS, I must have swallowed an amalgam filling or something :)

    Seriously would it not be illegal in any state to administer vetinary drugs to children?

    Would it not be illegal to supply vetinary narcotics to anybody but a licenced vetinarian?

    What really gets me is the immorality in this, presumably this dope is not a narcotic, and Mr Haley is not administering it directly to children so he gets away with it.

    Is the Universtiy of Kentucky genuine or another of those degree Mills. If it is the former, surely Mr Haley (I will not dignify him with the title he claims) guilty of some kind of professional misconduct or bringing the University into disrepute?

    At the very least he is inciting parents to commit what must be at the very least a misdemeanor.

    How Ironic that these people trade on the notion the Big Pharma is creating diseases, in order to sell the treatment? what the heck do they think they are doing that is any different?

    It seems to me that the US is almost as much a Wild West for dubious and dangerous medical practice as Mexico.

    Ought there not to be, or is there not a federal commission to weed these people out and restore the good name and standing of US medicine?

    These people should be going the way of Wakefield and his associates defrocked and defenestrated.

    — laurentius-rex    2008-04-26 17:48    #

  7. I was just thinking, this “Hey lets try out the cat chelator on our kids!” thing appearing on Lenny Schafer’s group puts a different light on the meaning of “Environment of Harm.”

    — Ms. Clark    2008-04-26 20:15    #

  8. Kathleen, please pardon my question, but is this some kind of spoof article or joke?

    — Do'C    2008-04-26 21:16    #

  9. Do’C, I think that was all quite straight and serious. Kathleen wouldn’t mess with our minds, I don’t think, ‘specially after what’s happened lately.

    Oh.

    Just wanted to add;

    My cat is NOT amused.

    — Justthisguy    2008-04-26 21:51    #

  10. Do’C, it’s not a spoof or a joke. The discussion occurred just this morning, and its implications are as disturbing to me as I imagine they are to you.

    Like drugs for humans, some veterinary medicines are sold over the counter, and others (such as ketamine) by prescription only. I don’t know which category Prof. Haley’s chelator would fall into.

    — Kathleen Seidel    2008-04-26 22:27    #

  11. Larry, the University of Kentucky is a reputable public educational institution. I would be interested to know whether their IRB is aware of Prof. Haley’s chelator development project.

    I have seen no indication that Prof. Haley has spoken about his product in the same way that Dr. Stoller did today. In a December 2005 interview with Dr. James Neubrander, he said, “We’re doing biological testing now, making sure it’s safe on animals, then we’ll put it into clinical trials… I don’t know when it will be ready – it will be dependent on the FDA.” Pages 57-64 of his 2008 Autism One conference Powerpoint give information about the chelator, which he says has been tested on rats, and alternately calls an antioxidant. According to a dad who attended Autism One 2007, Haley described taking the substance himself, and giving it to his cats at home; there was no mention of laboratory testing on cats.

    — Kathleen Seidel    2008-04-26 23:05    #

  12. This makes me want to retch. The whole thing, really. I mean, I’m a very open-minded person, and am open to alternative treatments (though not for autism) and stuff. But it seems to me, that no matter how open you are to stuff, whichever way you turn it this is reprehensible. The only way I could see this as being possibly ethical would be if the kid had a fatal condition and would die if nothing was done. Can’t people, even people who are scared into looking at autism as a toxic, dreadful thing, see what’s wrong with this? There are certain signs that tell you when something shady is going on, and this is one of the MAJOR ones.

    This reminds me of a dream I had last night where somebody sued every autistic blogger who didn’t buy into the autism=heavy metal poisoning thing (AKA it reminded me because both situations are completely absurd and disgusting). Wonder how my unconscious mind got that idea… ;) BTW, I am glad that the motion to quash went through. There really wouldn’t have been any doubt in my mind, except that I don’t exactly trust this government and the legal system to do the right things that are obvious and make sense. At least they could see how ridiculous and appalling that was.

    PS – What’s next? – Commercials proclaiming: “Silly Kitten! Chelation’s for kids!” (NOT)

    — Melody    2008-04-26 23:22    #

  13. Well, here’s an interesting response from the moderator of the ChelatingKids2 list to a mom who asked about the new chelator:

    “LOL….. it’s an “antioxidant!” not a chelator. Important not to call it a chelator. ;~) All I hear is all’s going well and we’re close.”

    “Important not to call it a chelator”? And how about that "wink" emoticon? It makes me wonder about the basis for whatever FDA approval might be forthcoming. Also, considering the widespread publicity about the death of Tariq Nadama by chelation, if the product were ever to be marketed to parents for administration to their autistic children, it would certainly sound more benign to market it as an antioxidant than as a chelator; it would make it easier to sell to parents who might otherwise be nervous about chelation.

    — Kathleen Seidel    2008-04-26 23:34    #

  14. So it’s a drug for cats in need of an antioxidant? They can’t get enough from their food? It’s good for random cats to get metals and minerals tossed about and moved from tissue to blood to tissue for the fun of it?

    Haley’s not an MD is he? This is the guy who says all mercury is horrifically toxic even though mercury is all our food, all of it, basically. It’s everywhere, but we are supposed to live in mortal fear of an atom of mercury, lest it destroy us? I wonder if Haley’s been spending too much time with chemicals…. and mercury phobes.

    — Ms. Clark    2008-04-27 03:17    #

  15. I have just figured out what has been playing up with my insides, it is a prescription anti arthritic drug, NSAID’s are notorious for being antagonistic to ones insides, so I am gonna have to chose arthritic pain or bowell pain for now.
    Anyway Ketamine is known as drug of abuse, I rather think the result of taking that is more pleasant than anti inflammatories though.

    So Haley is playing it cool but his acolytes are not then?

    And so far as I see it is not out of order to comment on Academics being out of order to there respective Universities. I did this once because of the public statements made by a forensic psychologist about AS.

    If as you say Kentucky is the real McCoy they are sure to have a code, to ensure that their employees and students don’t bring the institution into disrepute.

    There are also commercial concerns over using resources to develop marketable products, where the Uni expects to benefit from intellectual property rights.

    — laurentius-rex    2008-04-27 04:55    #

  16. If I’m using my cat’s chelator, I wonder if she’ll let me use her litter box too??

    My goodness, are these people for real?

    — bones    2008-04-27 09:09    #

  17. Stoller’s background is interesting in light of a letter he published in Pediatrics a while back, where he made a number of ignorant statements. He actually claimed to rebutt Shattuck’s paper on diagnostic substitution, but he did not address the data or analysis in the paper at all.

    “There are no studies that have found the previously undiagnosed or misdiagnosed autistic individuals among older Americans. They simply aren’t there.”
    (ho-hum )

    “As a pediatrician, who has been in practice for over two decades, I find it more than a little insulting as well as disturbing to have someone say that these children were always there.”
    (Inconsistent with actual surveys of pediatricians).

    “Nevertheless, with eighty percent of autistic Americans under the age of 18, we will see, clothes and all, a dramatic impact on Social Security in coming years as these children become dependent adults.”
    (There exists no discernable increase in the total prevalence of developmentally disabled individuals who don’t live independently or at home).

    “there are no genetic epidemics”
    (Not exactly true; increase in frequency of certain syndrome alleles has been observed.)

    “the increase of autism has been linked to the increase in mercury exposure through fish and industrial sources, amalgam and additionally, through increased parenteral exposure to ethylmercurithiosalicate.”
    (no evidence of this claim)

    “In a first analysis of the VSD datasets, Verstraeten et al had described a 7.6 to 11.4 fold increase of autism risk in children at one month, with the highest mercury exposure levels compared to children with no exposure.”
    (fails to mention the group size or confidence interval; n=2 in these tables)

    “Conflict of Interest: None declared”
    (right)

    — Joseph    2008-04-27 09:14    #

  18. I remember more than 10 years ago when drug addicts were breaking into Veterinarian’s offices to steal the ketamine, or “special K”, as it was known then. Now are we going to have mercury-believing parents breaking in to Vet’s offices to steal the “chelator” for their kids?!?!

    I wonder what the drug manufacturer would say to this exchange? Could they conceivably be held liable for deaths resulting from the use of this product as a chelator? And the veterinarian offices ought to be informed about the possibility of this misuse of the “antioxidant” or whatever they try to call it. Be very suspicious of a 78 pound cat needing antioxidants!

    Kathleen, you rock!

    — storkdok    2008-04-27 15:33    #

  19. Bones said: “If I’m using my cat’s chelator, I wonder if she’ll let me use her litter box too??”

    Well why not just use kitty litter as a chelator? Oh wait, zeolite is kitty litter and given to autistic kids as a chelator. Think I’ll go copyright the word Kittylator®

    btw, street name for Ketamine: Cat

    — notmercury    2008-04-27 18:43    #

  20. Would it be insensitive to say this story cries out for a LOLcat?

    — isles    2008-04-27 23:29    #

  21. More clever suggestions welcome:

    http://flickr.com/photos/evonneleif/2449530676/

    — Evonne    2008-04-28 14:21    #

  22. Love it. The kitties know!

    — isles    2008-04-28 19:34    #

  23. OK, let’s turn him into PETA.

    Wait! PETA may approve of testing on humans before being used on cats.

    — TheProbe    2008-04-29 08:45    #

  24. wow…..this is just……ridiculous beyond words.

    — Athena    2008-05-18 00:06    #

  25. Hey guys, i have a friend who has taken Dr. Haley’s antioxidant. He had 9 amalgam fillings. He took the antioxidant for 1 month and has had 2 dmsa challenge tests and a porphyrin test and only minute traces showed up. Even though the fillings had been there 20 plus years. I think Dr. Haley is a very sincere and kind person who wants to help. I have been to his office and to be quite honest i don’t think he is affiliated with UK anymore (don’t quote me on this) because of his strong stand against the AMA and the ADA on their use of mercury in our bodies. I have been to his office and it is not at
    UK and the name of his office has nothing in it about UK. Anyone who goes to that length to get a point across deserves respect. And animal testing has been around forever and still is, how to you think the big drug companies test their drugs…..animals and human trials!

    — daveky1    2008-06-21 22:07    #

  26. Reading the majority of the above comments makes me feel sorry for the lack of knowledge and insight that the majority of you possess. The comment about the methylcobalamin injections,in particular, shows me the type of individual that follows this website. Wake up people and smell the coffee, children are recovering from this “lifelong diagnosis” of autism with the very therapies that you “enlightened” people seem to dismiss as hype. My child is so happy that his mother (with a doctorial degree) has enough wisdom to think outside the box for answers. I feel sorry for all of you!!!!

    — Julie    2008-06-25 00:09    #