Gervasio Lamas' Chelation Research Called Off

Today the Associated Press has revealed shocking details about the government's largest alternative medical study. Now under investigation due to suspicion of negligent safety regulations and a variety of other things, the therapy program has stopped enrolling patients as officials investigate whether participants of the study were fully informed of the risks they faced and were adequately protected throughout the study.

This was an innovative study with high doses of vitamin and mineral supplements and chelation, a chemical ligand often used to treat lead poisoning, but here doctors were working towards heart disease. Associated Press shows that more than 1,500 heart attack survivors were involved in this research, which was approved in 2002 by federal officials hoping to discover a new treatment to an ever-threatening disease. Unfortunately, more than two people have already died and numerous questions are being raised about the doctors involved in the study. They have already discovered that some doctors had criminal records, others had previous confrontations by the state board, and some have even been removed from the program all together.

Dr. Gervasio Lamas, of the University of Miami, led the program and he firmly states that the deaths and his study are not related. When questioned by the Associated Press, Lamas said he runs "a safe and ethical trial, and we're protecting our patients." He does not, however, know how those deaths occurred, nor does he know how many patients have actually died. Namely, because his patients range 50+, all having a heart attack within the last six weeks.

To many doctors, Lamas' study should have never been approved, and according to Dr. Kimball Atwood, an anesthesiologist in Boston, his heart disease research was "based on misrepresentations about safety and effectiveness." When he discovered it had been approved, he and several others sent a complaint about the heart study to the federal research protection agency, and recently published a lengthy report detailing alleged problems. The initial problem being the consent form, or lack there of. In his research consent form, Dr. Gervasio strategically omits the fact that people have died from this drug in an effort to boost sign ups, and Liz Woeckner, president of Citizens for Responsible Care and Research (CIRCARE) unveils the fact that over half of the "doctors" in his study are making money on the side by selling chelation treatments.

Chelation, or EDTA as it has been called in trial, is a risky, experimental treatment, and although many people are fighting to prove its worth, currently it has the American Heart Association, FDA, American Medical Association, The American College of Cardiology, and numerous others strongly speaking out against it. EDTA was endorsed by AkzoNobel, a Dutch company, and its website says a single treatment costs $50 to $100. Even worse, the American Heart Association's website shows that there has been a major linkage of chelation to "kidney failure, bone marrow problems, shock, low blood pressure, convulsions, heart rhythm problems, allergic reactions and breathing troubles."

All of this means nothing to Gervasio though. When the problems with his research were revealed, he simply said, "what this controversy highlights is the need to do a trial of this treatment. It goes on all the time in many physicians' offices, in the U.S., and worldwide." Meaning, we may stop him now, but soon he will have new volunteers and new ideas.