Well, I'll weigh in with a few thoughts.

My first thought is that I'm not sure I understand the question. It seems to me that it assumes  chelation causes harm. If that's an accurate reading of the question, then I think it's simply a trick question.

Chelation therapy does not, in and of itself, cause harm. It is a very useful therapy (yes, I do chelation therapy on occasion) that  has the *potential* to cause harm. That certainly does not make it unique within the naturopathic set of tools. Further, I would say that it does something that can't be done with any other therapy, at least none that I know of. If someone has a very significant amount of mercury (or lead, or cadmium, or arsenic, or etc., or more commonly a combination of these) in their body, I don't know of any other therapy that will pull it out. In fact, any therapy that *does* pull it out is, by definition, chelation therapy.

In this light, I believe it follows the principle of using "the least force necessary" to accomplish the goal.

I suspect that the intention behind the question was to explore where people feel it fits within the therapeutic hierarchy. It certainly has a greater potential for harm than, say, homeopathy, and I would also say that it's more "invasive" than many other therapies we do (invasive is in quotes because not all chelation is via IV, but is also done orally).

Given it's greater potential for harm, I think that it falls further down the therapeutic order than many other kinds of therapy. I also think there is a greater onus of responsibility on the practitioner to be competent in its use so that harm isn't done. This is no different than, say, physical manipulation, which can do very significant and lasting harm if done incompetently.

That's my $.02

Regards,

Greg

MaryK wrote:

I would love to stir up some deep reflection and thoughts on a topic
that I've been adamently questioning for a long time now. Is chelation
therapy philosophically in line with our medicine? Does it fall
under 'first do no harm'?

This was the last conversation I had with Dr. Bill Mitchell, who I
deeply respect. I think there are many docs on here, and brilliant
questioning students, that might be able to share things that I have
not considered previously.

Peace and Light
MaryK