Background on chelation therapy

Note that the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners voted unanimously to approve the use of chelation as an alternative therapy even though Board Chairman Rex Baggett acknowledged that there is no evidence that the therapy works as an alternative to heart bypass surgery. 

January 30, 1998
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Continued use of alternative medicine to treat heart bypass surgery OK'd

By Ed Vogel Donrey Capital Bureau

RENO - To the applause of the audience, the Board of Medical Examiners unanimously decided Thursday not to outlaw a controversial treatment used as an alternative to heart bypass surgery.

The vote came despite an attorney general's opinion that the board could block use of chelation therapy by all physicians, including homeopaths who also have medical doctor licenses.

The decision quickly was touted by chelation therapy backers as a victory for less costly, alternative medicine.

'I think it is wonderful therapy,' said George Flint of Reno. 'My particular physician has used it for 25 years without a foul-up.'

Earlier Thursday he filed a lawsuit in District Court in Reno to stop the medical examiners board from prohibiting chelation therapy. District Judge Charles McGee, however, refused to issue the injunction Flint sought.

Flint speculated that some medical doctors' opposition to chelation therapy was financially motivated.

While he paid $ 2,000 for chelation therapy, Flint said a heart bypass operation would cost $ 80,000.

'I don't have insurance,' he said. 'The times I have had chelation, I have shown significant improvement in my circulation.'

Fourteen of the state's 28 homeopaths also hold medical doctor licenses. Many of them regularly prescribe chelation therapy for their patients.

Traditional homeopaths are medical practitioners who believe the body can cure illnesses if patients are given a small amount of the substance that caused the illness.

But in Nevada most homeopaths have gone far beyond the tradition. Today they use herbs, nutrition, neural therapy and electrodiagnosis machines.

And the Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners in December passed a regulation that stipulated its members could use chelation therapy.

Under this treatment, patients are given intravenous injections of the amino acid EDTA, which homeopaths contend removes fatty substances in the arteries and reduces the need for heart bypass surgery.

Chelation therapy backers - who turned out by the hundreds at a Dec. 6 Las Vegas hearing - contend the treatment is a wonder drug that works and saves them thousands of dollars.

But the Board of Medical Examiners' rule would have outlawed the use of chelation therapy for anything other than removing heavy metals from the body.

After the vote, board Chairman Dr. Rex Baggett said there is still no credible scientific evidence that chelation therapy is effective in the way homeopaths use it.

'But if someone wants to give someone EDTA and someone wants to take it, they have a right to do so,' Baggett said.

Earlier, Larry Lessly, the medical board's executive director, said a regulation banning chelation therapy was not necessary.

He said the board still can act against homeopathic practitioners who hold medical licenses if their patients file complaints about chelation therapy. About 600 complaints are filed each year against physicians.

Lessly said the board's decision would send a message to the medical community that it does not want chelation therapy misused.