Thus, it is heartening to learn that the Food and Drug Administration is going to be cracking down on some the purveyors of worthless products meant to treat or cure autism through the removal of toxins. Among the sham treatments facing possible legal action by the FDA are “chelation” therapies meant to bind and remove harmful chemicals from the body, and clay-based detox baths that claim to draw similar substances out of the body. None of them have any basis in fact, and in the case of chelation therapy can be genuinely dangerous.
Unsurprisingly, support for these kinds of useless interventions often goes hand-in-hand with vaccine denial. One need look no farther than Jenny McCarthy’s own autism Web site to find glowing testimonials to the benefits of chelation. The boogieman of unspecified “environmental toxins” is coupled with ominous reference to the number of vaccines administered in the United States at yet another site touting the marvels of “living clay.” When it comes to pseudoscience and autism quackery, it’s often all of a piece.
