Experiment in Treatment Seeks to Remove Toxins
Posted on: Saturday, 7 June 2008, 03:00 CDT
With childhood autism cases skyrocketing and no cure in sight, doctors at the Children's Institute in Pittsburgh are planning a Hail Mary pass approach to the mysterious disorder - housing young patients for weeks at a time in a pollutant-free "clean room," in an attempt to detoxify their bodies.
No cause for autism has been found, and debates rage as to whether the brain development disorder is purely genetic or caused in part by environmental factors, including air- and food-borne chemicals.
With roots in autism treatment theories that until now have lived mostly on the Internet, the pediatric clean room plan would be the first of its kind in a mainstream American hospital environment.
The Children Institute's Scott Faber, a pediatrician with several hundred autistic patients and a waiting list six months long, is one of the believers in toxic causes, and the institute is trying to back him with a multimillion-dollar test.
Under the plans - developed with help from Duquesne University - autistic patients would live for more than six weeks in a 1,000- square-foot room kept mostly free of harmful chemicals and pollutants, using special air-filtering systems, ultraviolet lights and air locks on doorways.
Furniture, paints, toys and floor coverings would be designed to be toxin-free, and food, clothing and water organic and clean. Doctors would seek to rid patients' bodies of chemicals and boost their immune systems through natural means such as nutritional supplements and dietary changes.
Basically, it would be pushing a "reset" button on the child's body, with the hope of wiping autistic symptoms away.
"What we would like to do is have kids live in this wonderful environment where they are exposed to almost none of the Industrial Revolution. And we wonder, if the chemicals come out and the heavy metals come out, will the children start improving?" Dr. Faber said.
Originally published by Timothy McNulty Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
(c) 2008 Augusta Chronicle, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The
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