Prof. Boyd Haley, PhD: Comments regarding the effectiveness of various chelators

[Guest guest]

You might find Dr. Buttar's testimony interesting reading.

http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Buttar%20IHMAF%20testimony.pdf

His bio-- http://www.ondamed.net/publication/html/en/article14.html

Prof. Boyd Haley, PhD: Comments

regarding the effectiveness of various chelators

Importance: High

Tuesday, July 6th, 2004

Hello everyone! :-)

I wrote a letter to Professor Boyd Haley asking about the effectiveness of

various chelators, and have received detailed responses, which you will

find below. One chelator or supplement I asked about was TTFD; I quoted to

him the following recent exchange on a autism list; the poster

answering the questions has a PhD in chemistry.

Question: Is tetrahydrofurfuryl mercaptan a part of TTFD?

Answer: Yes. TTFD is short for thiamine tetrahydrofurfuryl

disulfide. Mercaptans are single thiol groups. They do not capture and

hold mercury any better than the kilograms worth of such your body already

has. Disulfide bonds don't capture inorganic or organic mercury at all.

Chelators capture mercury and successfully take it out of the body; these

have 2 binding groups, or mercaptans, in the molecule. With the TTFD

disulfide, if the disulfide is reduced to a dimercaptan it becomes 2

molecules that float away from each other. In TTFD the disulfide bond is

what holds the TF and the T together.

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Dr. Haley, in your opinion,

1) Will TTFD help remove heavy metals from the body--especially mercury?

Dr. Haley's answer: I have no first hand knowledge concerning any clinical

studies showing TTFD removing mercury or helping an autistic child

detox. The chemistry Ph.D. comments presented in your email is correct in

his comments that TTFD break down into two monothiol containing compounds

that would not be classified as chelators of mercury, at least not any more

than cysteine would be. Monothiols only have one -SH group (thiol) and

would not bind mercury nearly as tightly as DMPS or DMSA or glutathione

complex. As a matter of fact, we have found that R-S-HgCl compounds are

more toxic than Hg2+ so I would have questions concerning the effectiveness

of TTFD unless there were good clinical data showing that it was

effective. My guess is that monothiols would not be good at removing

mercury from the central nervous since the mono-thiol containing amino acid

cysteine, which readily crosses the blood brain barrier, is not effective

in this regards.

2) Is TTFD or the fat soluble form of vitamin B-1, known as allithiamine,

potentially harmful to the liver of healthy people, and more specifically,

vaccine-injured mercury-toxic children?

Dr. Haley's answer: It is likely a matter of dose, it would likely be

toxic is used in excess amounts and, again, genetics plays a major roll in

this regards. Monothiol compounds like methylthiol (made by pathogenic

anerobic bacteria as they process methionine) is classified as a bacterial

toxicant like hydrogen sulfide (H2S, made by anerobic bacteria as they

process cysteine).

3) Would supplementing extra vitamin B-1/thiamine (water-soluble)--in

addition to a good B complex--help to detoxify a child from mercury and

other heavy metals?

Dr. Haley's answer: I know of no proof that this would be effective and I

cannot think of a biochemical reason to support this hypothesis other than

the mercury toxic child might be limited in his/her ability to absorb these

needed compounds from their diet.

4) Is chlorella that is not contaminated with mercury a safe way to

chelate?

Dr. Haley's answer: Regarding chlorella, it is my opinion that it is

practically worthless at removing mercury from the body. I have never seen

any publication or study, other than claims by the sellers of this

material, that it removes mercury from the body. Because it binds and

removes mercury from the soil while growing some seem to think it would

remove mercury from the body, not withstanding that the chlorella must

withstand an extremely high pH in the stomach. One person demonstrating

increased mercury excretion in his urine following ingestion of chlorella

at one of my conferences caused me to check his chlorella for mercury, and

it was loaded. To check out the theory a source of mercury free chlorella

was found and tested but the data (obtained by Dr. Quig at Doctor's Data)

showed that this mercury free chlorella did not increase excretion of

mercury. I think it is all a ruse that has never been proven because it

cannot be proven as it does not work.

5) Can cilantro be used effectively and safely to chelate mercury, with or

without chlorella?

Dr. Haley's answer: There is not proof that cilantro works any better than

chlorella. It is just the opinion of those that sell this product, there

has not been one scientific study to support the concept that cilantro

removes mercury from the body. Opinions of those who want to sell this

product, or give advice as if they know something and are health guru's, is

all that I know that support the use of cilantro. The bottom line is

showing that the products increase the mercury levels in the urine and

feces post treatment by measuring the mercury scientifically. This is easy

to do and has not been done successfully for either chlorella or

cilantro. Analysis by non-established procedures is not reliable for

evaluating the successful use of these materials.

6) What do you think are the safest and most effective means for parents

to chelate their mercury-poisoned children--both with a doctor and without?

Dr. Haley's answer: I would recommend going the most natural route

possible. We know how healthy children excrete mercury, they do so by

first forming the glutathione-mercury complex and using metabolic produced

energy to actively excrete the mercury-glutathione complex out of the body

through the bilary transport system of the liver into the

feces. Therefore, developing a diet that leads to increased intracellular

reduced glutathione is important. This diet should also provide the needed

minerals and vitamins and nutrients that allow the body to make energy (ATP

or adenosine-triphosphate). Vitamin C is a good contributor to both of

these needs. The child may also need supplementation of lipoic acid (used

in the first step of the citric acid cycle and a strong binder of Hg2+,

which inhibits its function and use). All mercury toxic individuals will

likely be selenium deficient as Se2- binds Hg2+ very tightly forming HgSe

(mercury selenide) which removes the selenium from bioavailability to the

body. I firmly believe that the child should be first placed on a good

supporting diet with supplementation before any chelation is

attempted. After that I bow to the physicians that treat the children

first hand with regards to the use of DMPS and DMSA as they have the

experience that I do not have. Caution is needed but these physicians know

this.

6a) I've read some concerns about ALA (especially in combination with

DMSA).

Dr. Haley's answer: Alpha-lipoic acid is a needed element in the diet, it

most likely should be given with food and not mixed with thiol-based

chelators as it will form what is called a mixed disulfide (e.g. DMPS-SH +

ALA-SH >> DMPS-S-ALA, not correct chemistry but it may get the idea across)

that is ineffective and may be toxic.

Dr. Haley's answer, continued: In my opinion, we do not know the best way

to remove mercury or detox autistic children although we have made

headway. I think the diet considerations found by DAN physicians with

regards to casein and wheat glutin have been major advances. The need to

supplement with vitamin methyl-B12 seems to be a critical find. What is

really needed is for the government of fess up to the thimerosal caused

problems and to fund clinical studies that individual physicians cannot do

to successfully find a way to treat these children. It may be a way to

repair the damage that a transient bolus dose of thimerosal caused that is

needed---and the removal of mercury may just be a minor step in this

process.

Boyd E. Haley 859-257-7082

Professor and Chair

Dept. of Chemistry

University of Kentucky

[Guest guest]

lack of bioavialiable copper inhibits the energy cycle, so high

copper which i take to be un-bioavialable copper and low copper both

impair mercury removal though high copper will be worse with its high

oxidation.

i think this just confirms what i am saying about the necessity of

bio avialable copper and also that high doses of vitamin c which will

mess with rather than enhance atp production are not a good idea.

We know how healthy children excrete mercury, they do so by

> first forming the glutathione-mercury complex and using metabolic

produced

> energy to actively excrete the mercury-glutathione complex out of

the body

> through the bilary transport system of the liver into the

> feces. Therefore, developing a diet that leads to increased

intracellular

> reduced glutathione is important. This diet should also provide

the needed

> minerals and vitamins and nutrients that allow the body to make

energy (ATP

> or adenosine-triphosphate). Vitamin C is a good contributor to

both of

> these needs.

[Guest guest]

Tuesday, July 6th, 2004

Hello everyone! :-)

I wrote a letter to Professor Boyd Haley asking about the effectiveness

of various chelators, and have received detailed responses, which you

will find below. One chelator or supplement I asked about was TTFD;

I quoted to him the following recent exchange on a autism list; the

poster answering the questions has a PhD in chemistry.

Question: Is

tetrahydrofurfuryl mercaptan a part of TTFD?

Answer: Yes. TTFD is short for thiamine

tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide. Mercaptans are single thiol

groups. They do not capture and hold mercury any better than the

kilograms worth of such your body already has. Disulfide bonds

don't capture inorganic or organic mercury at all.

Chelators capture mercury and successfully take it out of the body; these

have 2 binding groups, or mercaptans, in the molecule. With the

TTFD disulfide, if the disulfide is reduced to a dimercaptan it becomes 2

molecules that float away from each other. In TTFD the disulfide

bond is what holds the TF and the T together.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Haley, in your opinion,

1) Will TTFD help remove heavy metals from the body--especially

mercury?

Dr. Haley's answer: I have

no first hand knowledge concerning any clinical studies showing TTFD

removing mercury or helping an autistic child detox. The chemistry

Ph.D. comments presented in your email is correct in his comments that

TTFD break down into two monothiol containing compounds that would not be

classified as chelators of mercury, at least not any more than cysteine

would be. Monothiols only have one -SH group (thiol) and would not

bind mercury nearly as tightly as DMPS or DMSA or glutathione

complex. As a matter of fact, we have found that R-S-HgCl compounds

are more toxic than Hg2+ so I would have questions concerning the

effectiveness of TTFD unless there were good clinical data showing that

it was effective. My guess is that monothiols would not be good at

removing mercury from the central nervous since the mono-thiol containing

amino acid cysteine, which readily crosses the blood brain barrier, is

not effective in this regards.

2) Is TTFD or the fat

soluble form of vitamin B-1, known as allithiamine, potentially harmful

to the liver of healthy people, and more specifically, vaccine-injured

mercury-toxic children?

Dr. Haley's answer: It is

likely a matter of dose, it would likely be toxic is used in excess

amounts and, again, genetics plays a major roll in this regards.

Monothiol compounds like methylthiol (made by pathogenic anerobic

bacteria as they process methionine) is classified as a bacterial

toxicant like hydrogen sulfide (H2S, made by anerobic bacteria as they

process cysteine).

3) Would supplementing extra

vitamin B-1/thiamine (water-soluble)--in addition to a good B

complex--help to detoxify a child from mercury and other heavy

metals?

Dr. Haley's answer: I know

of no proof that this would be effective and I cannot think of a

biochemical reason to support this hypothesis other than the mercury

toxic child might be limited in his/her ability to absorb these needed

compounds from their diet.

4) Is chlorella that is not

contaminated with mercury a safe way to chelate?

Dr. Haley's answer:

Regarding chlorella, it is my opinion that it is practically

worthless at removing mercury from the body. I have never seen any

publication or study, other than claims by the sellers of this material,

that it removes mercury from the body. Because it binds and removes

mercury from the soil while growing some seem to think it would remove

mercury from the body, not withstanding that the chlorella must withstand

an extremely high pH in the stomach. One person demonstrating

increased mercury excretion in his urine following ingestion of chlorella

at one of my conferences caused me to check his chlorella for mercury,

and it was loaded. To check out the theory a source of mercury free

chlorella was found and tested but the data (obtained by Dr. Quig at

Doctor's Data) showed that this mercury free chlorella did not increase

excretion of mercury. I think it is all a ruse that has never been

proven because it cannot be proven as it does not work.

5) Can cilantro be used

effectively and safely to chelate mercury, with or without

chlorella?

Dr. Haley's answer: There

is not proof that cilantro works any better than chlorella. It is

just the opinion of those that sell this product, there has not been one

scientific study to support the concept that cilantro removes mercury

from the body. Opinions of those who want to sell this product, or

give advice as if they know something and are health guru's, is all that

I know that support the use of cilantro. The bottom line is showing

that the products increase the mercury levels in the urine and feces post

treatment by measuring the mercury scientifically. This is easy to

do and has not been done successfully for either chlorella or

cilantro. Analysis by non-established procedures is not reliable

for evaluating the successful use of these materials.

6) What do you think are the

safest and most effective means for parents to chelate their

mercury-poisoned children--both with a doctor and without?

Dr. Haley's answer: I would

recommend going the most natural route possible. We know how

healthy children excrete mercury, they do so by first forming the

glutathione-mercury complex and using metabolic produced energy to

actively excrete the mercury-glutathione complex out of the body through

the bilary transport system of the liver into the feces. Therefore,

developing a diet that leads to increased intracellular reduced

glutathione is important. This diet should also provide the needed

minerals and vitamins and nutrients that allow the body to make energy

(ATP or adenosine-triphosphate). Vitamin C is a good contributor to

both of these needs. The child may also need supplementation of

lipoic acid (used in the first step of the citric acid cycle and a strong

binder of Hg2+, which inhibits its function and use). All mercury

toxic individuals will likely be selenium deficient as Se2- binds Hg2+

very tightly forming HgSe (mercury selenide) which removes the selenium

from bioavailability to the body. I firmly believe that the child

should be first placed on a good supporting diet with supplementation

before any chelation is attempted. After that I bow to the

physicians that treat the children first hand with regards to the use of

DMPS and DMSA as they have the experience that I do not have.

Caution is needed but these physicians know this.

6a) I've read some concerns

about ALA (especially in combination with DMSA).

Dr. Haley's answer:

Alpha-lipoic acid is a needed element in the diet, it most likely

should be given with food and not mixed with thiol-based chelators as it

will form what is called a mixed disulfide (e.g. DMPS-SH + ALA-SH

>> DMPS-S-ALA, not correct chemistry but it may get the idea

across) that is ineffective and may be toxic.

Dr. Haley's answer, continued: In my opinion, we do not know

the best way to remove mercury or detox autistic children although we

have made headway. I think the diet considerations found by DAN

physicians with regards to casein and wheat glutin have been major

advances. The need to supplement with vitamin methyl-B12 seems to

be a critical find. What is really needed is for the government of

fess up to the thimerosal caused problems and to fund clinical studies

that individual physicians cannot do to successfully find a way to treat

these children. It may be a way to repair the damage that a

transient bolus dose of thimerosal caused that is needed---and the

removal of mercury may just be a minor step in this process.

Boyd E. Haley 859-257-7082

Professor and Chair

Dept. of Chemistry

University of Kentucky