Doctor: Wrong medication to blame in autism death

The Associated Press
01/18/2006

A 5-year-old autistic boy died because the wrong medication was administered during a controversial treatment for the disorder, a doctor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Abubakar Tariq Nadama, of Monroeville, died Aug. 23 in his doctor's office because he was given the wrong medication, not because of the therapy itself, Dr. Mary Jean Brown said Tuesday.

Chelation therapy involves injecting a synthetic amino acid called EDTA into the body, which is supposed to clean out heavy metals from the bloodstream so they can be dispelled through urine.

Some parents and doctors believe autism is caused by heavy metals. The FDA has approved chelation for treatment of lead and heavy metal poisoning, but not to treat autism, because it is considered risky.

"It's a case of look-alike/sound-alike medications," Brown, chief of the CDC's lead poisoning prevention branch, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The child was given Disodium EDTA instead of Calcium Disodium EDTA. The generic names are Versinate and Endrate. They sound alike. They're clear and colorless and odorless. They were mixed up."

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For more information, resources and practical strategies on autism please visit: www.AutismConcepts.com.