By Garry F. Gordon MD, DO, MD(H)

What if Dr. Gordon knew when he spent over 6 months compiling the 187 references for his article, published in the Spring 2001 issue of the ACAM Journal, ¹ that the future of chelation was to focus on heavy metal detoxification? This course saves the wasted energy of fighting over its efficacy as a cardiovascular disease and makes the benefits of chelation more available to the millions who need it.

What if Dr. Lester Morrison spent $10 million in proving that thinning blood with sulfated polysaccaride would decrease heart attacks by 90%²?

What if Riker³ patented and published that oral EDTA causes sulfated polysaccarides to produce heparin-like activity? Might that explain Dr. Gordon's low heart attack rate with oral chelation?

What if the American Heart Association figures show that thrombotic events lead to nearly 1,990,000 deaths annually in U.S. alone and experts believe that at least 70% of these are preventable with effective antithrombotic therapy? (www.thrombocare.com) Now antithrombotic therapy is the subject of billions of dollars worth of studies to find something safe and effective, while oral EDTA has already made this possible for many years in an all-natural product.

What if a leading researcher has published a book⁴, endorsed by a recent Past President of the American Heart Association showing that lowering blood viscosity virtually eliminates all heart attacks and strokes? It appears that Ca EDTA lowers blood viscosity. (www.rheologics.com)

For further information the Ken Kensey, MD/Cardiologist lecture is on tapes from the April Phoenix GRI/IOMA Conference available from Longevity Plus.

What if you could justify detoxifying everyone in your community with oral EDTA augmented with parenteral EDTA? This appears warranted in view of the NEJM saying "no safe level of lead"¹⁰ and the Mt Sinai School of Medicine study⁵, done with the Environmental Working Group, proving NO ONE IS SAFE. It is clear, we are all toxic, but treatment must be affordable and convenient.

What if an ACAM member has published a study⁶ proving that all the toxic metals including mercury come out safely and more effectively when HEEL homeopathic detoxification products are added to IV Calcium EDTA than when ONLY Ca EDTA is used?

What if over 50% of what you thought you knew about how chelation therapy works was wrong? Read 504 references on www.gordonresearch.com and learn the facts that show I am correct about SAFETY and EFFICACY of Calcium EDTA both oral and IV when used for heavy metals. Each reference has an abstract you can read if you just click on the number of the reference.

What if Omega 3 supplementation appears to reverse plaque more cost effectively and conveniently than IV Chelation therapy⁷? With this approach to control of arteriosclerosis, perhaps Chelationists should focus on areas where no real controversy about effectiveness exists, like heavy metal detoxification.

What if the majority of circulatory benefits attributed to EDTA Chelation Therapy can be adequately explained by heavy metal detoxification? What if the improved circulation has nothing to do in most cases with plaque removal? What if the primary provable benefits turn out to be from indirect benefits of treating endothelial dysfunction, such as improved Nitric Oxide production related to the lowering of lead levels in endothelium? ⁸

We all know chelation has symptomatically helped 85% of vascular disease patients, is it possible that EDTA might be similarly effective in other areas such as compromised renal function⁹ and neurologic or hepatic function, where lead and toxic metal removal again produces surprising benefits? Is heavy metal toxicity so pervasive that it encroaches on every discipline in medicine by interfering with optimal healthy functioning of all organs in human bodies⁹? What if major, mainstream medical literature concludes that there is no safe level of lead¹⁰? What if the studies on the rapid administration of Calcium EDTA have revealed an average increase in lead excretion 147 times above the bone baseline¹¹? What if ACAM physicians are reporting significantly increased toxic metal excretion levels in their six-hour provocative tests when following my preliminary protocol? Even if they have over one hundred standard protocol treatments, with concurrent administration of Garlic/Oral EDTA with IV Ca EDTA by push, the detoxification results are much more impressive. What if Elmer Cranton was wrong about "DANGEROUS and UNPROVEN"? What if he is wrong and the PUSH using Calcium EDTA orally and by rapid IV is the ONLY application of EDTA chelation therapy destined to survive? What if our European colleagues have been routinely using a rapid administration method for years? What if Dr. Blumer's studies show more dramatic benefits than most chelation doctors in the United States with the slow drip have seen, such as an indisputable 90+% reduction in cancer in his practice over an 18-year period^12,13? Dr. Blumer's work shows dramatic reductions in cancer and cardiovascular disease and the published studies regarding life-extension in rotifers¹⁴ with positive long term benefits¹ suggests we should all do something to get the lead out of our patients. He clearly shows benefits even though Cranton feels that the initial workup to establish the severity of the illness is not up to today's standards. That makes little difference when you realize his control group were getting the cancers and heart attacks and his treated patients were not! What if our planet is now so lead poisoned that for us to enjoy optimal health and maximum lifespan, Calcium EDTA needs be reclassified as a conditionally essential nutrient¹⁵? What if the lead in YOUR body is so concentrated in your bones that any form of chelation MUST be continued for YEARS in order to provide lasting benefits? The major source of your patients' lead poisoning is the bones of their body (averaging 1000 times values seen in 16th century).^16,17

What if industrial physicians have widely reported over the world that for more than forty years oral administration of calcium EDTA provides at least 50% of the lead excretion benefits seen with parenterally administered calcium EDTA? Would you then want to read for yourself the published reports that it relieves symptoms and lowers blood lead levels adequately to permit employees to return to work?¹⁸ What if chelation benefits tend to become transient? As a new level of homeostasis is reached, the bones will retoxify the tissues that had been transiently benefited by parenterally administered chelation.¹⁹

What if your daughter wants to get pregnant and gives you only sixty days to deal with her lead issue so that her child's IQ is not at risk?²⁰ Will you know enough to be able to safely chelate her before and maintain her program during the pregnancy when the lead is leaving her bones and mercury is leaving her body and going into her baby?²¹ What if the National Center for Environmental Health and Center for Disease Control show that the lower the lead the higher the IQ and the worker's productivity?²² What if you gave EDTA to a patient who's already on renal dialysis? Would it make any difference at all if you gave the chelating agent in two minutes or four hours? You may notice that in the NEJM article they collected the urine for 72 hours after each treatment. This is because if the kidneys are failing, the EDTA does NOT leave in 45 minutes, which means that whether you took it in 3 minutes or 1 hour will not really be a significant factor in most cases. Note: the simple facts are that EDTA will stay there until the patient goes on renal dialysis, hopefully the next day. Thus, is it possible that we are only talking about some transient elevation in Creatinine in one patient in a thousand or ten thousand, which is what I would expect may occur based on the cumulative years experience of and communication with European physicians?²³ Fortunately, there is not a single report in the literature of a single administration of EDTA leading to death, and where we have seen adverse effects on renal functioning; it was 99% of the time reversible.

What if JAMA is right and lead has something to do with the 95 million Americans who have blood pressure problems? What if your mother is postmenstrual and losing bone then develops hypertension but lives 1000 miles away? Will oral chelation reduce her level of heavy metal toxicity?^24,25

Dr. Olszewer of Brazil states he has found the Calcium EDTA superior to Sodium in the initial treatments for his severe heart patients.²⁶

That leaves the allegation of "danger". Well that, of course, is relative since everything done in medicine is dangerous and over 100-200k people die annually as a result of drug reactions and/or physician errors. However, you can prove that you provide a benefit if you happen to focus your practice on detoxification of heavy metals, and, I believe, no one can claim you are wrong when you state that in your professional opinion that we would all be healthier with LESS lead.

When you are delivering a drug for its approved indication, you, as the professional, may still have a little latitude regarding frequency and dosage and even rate of administration.

NOTE: My "protocol" is NOT set in concrete and is subject to daily upgrades and improvements. By joining the chelation discussion group on Yahoo with well over 100 chelating doctors regularly participating, you can learn more about new methods of oral and parenterally administered chelating agents. Also, see the unabridged version of this report on my website.

I sit on a Board with the responsibility of disciplining doctors and I know that if your consultation had advised the patient that the more rapid administration technique was not commonly done in the USA but that you believed the benefits outweighed the risks, that my board and most experts would back your decision. I believe that if you focused on clinical metal toxicology, you could you triple the size of your practice in your community.

What if your primary indication for Calcium EDTA, oral or intravenous, was for heavy metal detoxification? Would that make your malpractice insurance easier to obtain? Then you are not using EDTA for investigational/experimental vascular disease related purposes and that alone makes you more defensible in your practice.

Now that we have NEJM supporting a concept that there is no safe level of lead, if you focus on lowering lead in any discussion with your patients, the chelation fight would refocus on issues where we could easily win. Our patients will still see the same benefits that make them seek us out and fight for our right to provide this therapy, but the "competition" would find it almost impossible to effectively argue with our rationale. In fact, based on your understanding of the literature, you can readily defend statements that lowered lead levels may make most other conditions more responsive to treatment.

When there is an accepted benefit, few of those deaths result in medical discipline or malpractice because it is accepted that as long as there is an acknowledged benefit from the therapy, then all patients must accept the fact that there are some risks when they receive that therapy.

I urge you, however, to discuss all contingencies with your patient in the act of obtaining an adequate informed consent for every procedure that we as alternative, integrative, complementary physicians practicing medicine not commonly taught in medical schools must do for all the procedures offered in our practice. This is even, though basically you are back to the package insert, if you choose your representations carefully about why you are recommending the use of chelation to your patient. Do you believe, knowing any of the above referenced statements that you could manage to provide an informed consent for your patients to empower them to decide IF they want to suffer the DANGERS alluded to in Dr. Cranton's comments? Some may still decide to try the more rapid, and thus more concentrated, treatment in order to deal more effectively with these issues.

1 Gordon GF. EDTA and Chelation Therapy: History and Mechanisms of Action An Update. Clinic Practice of Alt Med 2001;2(1):36-45.
2 Morrison LM. "Arteriosclerosis: Prevention, Treatment, and Regression". Charles C Thomas, 1984.
3 Windsor E, Cronheim GE (Riker Labs). Gastrointestinal absorption of heparin and synthetic heparinoids. Nature 1961;190:203-204.
4 Kensey KR, Cho YI. The Origin of Atherosclerosis. Volume 1: An Introduction To Hemodynamics. Also personal conversations on May 22, 2003.
5 Thornton et al. Body Burden: Findings & Recommendations. J Pub Health 2002.
6 Shelton B. Homotoxicology and Calcium EDTA Chelation. Explore2002; 11.
8 Green DJ et al. Effects of chelation with EDTA and vitamin B therapy on nitric oxide-related endothelial vasodilator function. Dept of Human Movement, U of W Australia.
9 Lin JL et al. Environmental Lead Exposure and Progression of Chronic Renal Diseases in Patients without Diabetes. N Engl J Med 2003;348:277-286.
10 Rogan WJ, Ware JH. Exposure to Lead in Children - How Low is Low Enough? N Engl J Med 2003;348:1515-1516.
11 Quig and Filidei, 2002 Doctor's Data as presented Foundational Health Conference, Sheraton Phoenix.
12 Blumer W, Cranton E. Ninety Percent Reduction in Cancer Mortality After Chelation Therapy With EDTA. J Adv Med 1989;2(1,2))
13 Blumer W. Calcium-Disodium-EDTA Treatment for Cardiovascular Symptoms. Plzen.lek.Sborn 1990;62:157-159.
14 Sincock AM. Life extension in the rotifer mytilina brevispina vat redunca by the application of chelating agents. J Gerontol. 1975;30:289-293.
15 Williams JD, Leigh DA. Lead Poisoning. British Med J 1964;1:1511)
16 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. 1995 Tyler Laureate Clair C. Patterson.
17 Patterson CC. Papers of Clair C. Patterson. 1937-1995. CA Inst of Tech, Institute Archives.
18 Desoille H et al. The Lead Mobilization Test Using CaNas₂ EDTA. XII Intern Cong Occup Health 1957;111:287-290.
19 Sánchez-Fructuso AI et al. Lead mobilization during calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate chelation therapy in treatment of chronic lead poisoning. AJKD 2002;40:43-50.
20 Canfield RL et al. Intellectual Impairment in Children with Blood Lead Concentrations below 10μg per Deciliter. N Engl J Med 2003;348:1517-1526.
21Gomaa A et al. Maternal bone lead as an independent risk factor for fetal neurotoxicity: a prospective study. Dept. of Env Health, Harvard.
22 Grosse SD et al. Economic gains resulting from the reduction in children's exposure to lead in the United States. Natl Center for Env Health, Center for Disease Control.
23 Swedko PJ et al. Serum Creatinine Is an Inadequate Screening Test for Renal Failure in Elderly Patients. Arch Intern Med 2003;163:356-360.
24 Nash D et al. Blood Lead, Blood Pressure, and Hypertension in Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Women. JAMA 2003;289(12):1523-1524.
25 Grady D. U.S. Guidelines Are Reassessing Blood Pressure: What Had Been Normal Is Now Called Unsafe. NYT, May 15, 2003.
26 Olszewer E, Sabbag FC, Carter JP. A pilot double-blind study of sodium-magnesium EDTA in peripheral vascular disease. J Natl Med Assoc. 1990; 82:173-174.