Corny hack writer Ms. Trine Tsouderos of the Chicago Tribune is a pretty lame journalist (and of course the incompetent editor in question who published her ham writings is also to blame), raking over old issues, claiming that the infamous TACT trial investigating the value of chelation therapy is somehow wicked, should be dropped and (she NOT being a medical doctor) claiming all sorts of dangers for this contentious therapy.
The truth is she has found nothing new. Her “journalism” (unfair to real journalists) covers only issues that have been raised, reviewed and then passed upon by more qualified judges than her.
Why does the hack think she knows more than a medical review body that has investigated all the problems she has “revealed”? Just follow the money.
The fact is, this trial was almost brought down by conventional cardiology and cardiac surgeons and their slime lackeys in the media. They have a multi-billion dollar scam going. All science proves that by-pass, stents, etc are a worthless solution to vascular health problems and it is them that should be dropped.
But they are running scared, afraid the chelation trial will prove positive. Chelation is a fraction of the cost of their clumsy and damaging treatments and if adopted that would compromise their obscene incomes.
The $30 million TACT trial into the efficacy of chelation therapy, sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institutes of Health, was stopped in 2008 while “allegations of impropriety” were investigated. These centered on concerns over the patient-consent process. The trial was restarted in 2009.
Trine Tsouderos, reports that two paid consultants to the trial had been convicted of federal crimes (only tax crimes, she omitted to say). Many of the criticisms of the trial have been reported previously.
In response to the lousy journalism, lead TACT investigator Dr Gervasio Lamas (Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL) pointed out that patients undergoing this treatment deserve to know whether there is any evidence of efficacy. Even he overlooks there were many positive papers published in the 1950s and now conveniently forgotten, in the rush of money from cardiac “procedures”.
Tsouderos trotted out the old saw that chelation was dangerous (hah!) As Lamas points out, rightly, when used as directed within the guidelines of TACT, chelation therapy with EDTA has proved to be remarkably safe. Danger is only present when the therapy is delivered too quickly or in an incorrect dose. “Much like Tylenol, when misused, an overdosage can have serious consequences,” Lamas stated.
Moreover, Lamas adds, the TACT trial has been the subject of a comprehensive inquiry and has been reviewed by many regulatory bodies, all of which have concluded that it should continue.
On the reports of misdemeanors of some of the investigators, Lamas notes that over 300 physicians have participated in the trial, “yet Ms Tsouderos focused on a small number of investigators who have had legal problems, unrelated to the trial.” I wonder who was paying her for this grubby attack?
Lamas concludes with a sensible comment: “Anyone who has studied the history of medicine knows that many effective mainstream therapies are derived from empirical folk remedies and that some science-based treatments prove ineffective or even harmful. As a practicing ‘mainstream’ cardiologist, I have no vested interest in establishing the value of chelation therapy, but I do try to keep an open mind on this issue. Since neither I nor any other TACT clinical investigators are privy to interim outcome data from TACT, we do not know how the study will turn out. Our job is not to prejudge its outcome but to maintain the safety of our participants and the scientific integrity of the study, as judged by those who review our data and practices regularly.”
I should just add that chelation is NOT an “empirical folk remedy”, it was in all the literature decades ago, before the dollar squad moved in with their worthless interventions.
References:
1.Tsouderos T. Troubled study at heart of therapy debate. Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2011.
2.Tsouderos T. Study’s doctors have had their share of troubles. Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2011.
3.Atwood IV KC, Woeckner E, Baratz RS, Sampson WI. Why the NIH Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) should be abandoned. Medscape J Med 2008; 10:115.
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