Kathryn Brown, CBS News
(CBS) - Some parents are spending a lot of money on a new controversial treatment for autism. Doctors say it’s not medically proven to help.
Dinnertime in the Conte household is a family affair.
Eight-year-old triplets Louie, Sam and Thomas all pitch in to help, but for Sam and Thomas, who are autistic, even setting the table is difficult.
“The struggle is so hard every day,” said their mother Andrea Conte.
But she said lately it’s been getting easier with the help of alternative therapies including an unproven treatment called “chelation.”
Sam and Thomas are given drugs which bind to metals in their blood and help flush them out.
“Some of the metals coming out of their body, especially the lead, were just off the charts,” said Conte.
Chelation has long been used to treat lead poisoning but now some are applying it to autism based on a theory that metals, including mercury from vaccines, contribute to the condition.
“Verbal skills are the first that we see,” said Pediatrician Giuseppina Feingold. “Improvements in eye contact, cooperation.”
An IV delivers the strongest dose of chelation right to the bloodstream but it can also be given orally or even through a cream.
Still the treatment remains relatively new and very controversial.
Dr. Barry Kosofsky believes potential side effects like rashes and blood complications are too risky to justify any possible benefits.
“These desperate parents will take money that they often don’t have to spend on such therapies which are experimental at best, and likely not to work,” said Kosofsky.
Still, the Contes insist they see real gains, and say any signs of improvement are better than none.
