Take note, parents of children with autism: FDA says supplement is a drug

The "dietary supplement" sold as OSR#1 is actually a toxic drug, with potentially serious side effects, the Food and Drug Administration has warned.

The product was the subject of a story published in the Times Health section a few months ago: Industrial chemical OSR#1 used as autism treatment

Here's the latest article, on the warning letter from the agency: FDA warns maker of product used as alternative autism treatment

The story quotes Ellen Silbergeld, an environmental health expert at Johns Hopkins University, as saying: "An industrial chemical known to be toxic — his own incomplete testing indicates it is toxic. It has no record of any therapeutic aspect of it, and it is being marketed for use in children."

-- Tami Dennis

Photo credit: Chicago Tribune

Comments

[Robert Boyd]

What kind of article is this? It doesn't say anything more than the drug is toxic. What is the chemical used for in normal use. Why are people thinking it might cure or help autism. How about some information?????

[Poogles]

See those blue highlighted bits in the writing? Those are links. You can click those to go to more information via other articles.

OSR #1 is made from an industrial chemical that was developed for chelating heavy metals (like mercury) from soil and mining drainage. It has never been tested for safety or efficacy in humans.

Some parents with autistic children believe that autism is caused by an inability to naturally clear the body of the heavy metals we come into contact with on a daily basis, and the metals (usually mercury is the metal the parents focus on) build up in the brain, causing autism. This has no basis in fact or science. The mercury preservative that used to be in vaccines gets blamed a lot and it was removed from all the regular vaccines in the childhood schedule (some flu vaccines still contain it) as a precaution only - when the studies were done, there was no link between the mercury and autism.

So, these parents believe that chelating their children will "cure" autism, although chelating (even under professional supervision and approved drugs) comes with serious side effects and risks. Chelating their children with approved human chelators is bad enough, but with OSR #1 they're using something that could be wreaking untold havoc on their children's body in addition to being completely useless - the studies haven't been done and they're sprinking this crap on their kids food everyday!