Yes, and altie madness has claimed a poor HIV+ child as well:

http://ktla.trb.com/news/local/la-me-eliza24sep24,0,2413234.story?coll=kt
la-news-1

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/092005/09252005/131521/printer_frien
dly

This is the hazard of a M.D. jumping on the alternative band wagon without
due diligence. Any experienced doctor knows that you don't chelate mercury
with EDTA. Dr. Haley, a Ph. D., has shown that EDTA can cause a 100X
toxicity increase with mercury in the brain. Severe damage to the brain
tubulins can occur, resulting in Alzheimers like dementia.
You should use DMPS(sodium salt of 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid).
The dose of DMPS must be adjusted for body weight. It should not be
injected, a slow IV drip is utilized. Alternative treatments must be
researched with as much care as traditional. This doctor was not experienced
in the proper protocol for chelating heavy metals. Just because he had a
M.D. it doesn't mean he knew what he was doing.

http://www.karlloren.com/ultrasound/p18.htm

DMPS (sodium salt of 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid) is not a new
drug. It was developed in the former Soviet Union in 1958. In 1978, DMPS
became available to the western world following its synthesis and production
by the German pharmaceutical company, Heyl.54 DMPS is a chelating agent in
the group of dithiols, along with dimercaprol (BAL, British anti-Lewisite)
and succimer (DMSA, 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid).

DMPS has been used extensively in Europe and on a limited basis in North
America as a treatment for mercury (55), arsenic (56) or lead intoxication
(57). It is a registered drug in Germany and, in fact, due to its long
record of safety, is now available without prescription.(28) When compared
with D-penicillamine and N-acetyl-DL-penicillamine, DMPS was the most
effective agent to clear mercury from the blood of victims of the Iraqi
mercury disaster in the 1960's. (58)

In addition to its safety and utility as an agent for detoxification, DMPS
has been used frequently as an agent to approximate mercury body
burden.(56,59) As described above, resting urine or blood levels of mercury
bear little relationship to body burden of mercury in cases of long
standing, low level intoxication, such as that which may occur from dental
amalgams.(27),

There is a great wealth of scientific literature on the use of DMPS as both
a diagnostic tool and a treatment agent in cases of acute and chronic heavy
metal intoxication. Much of the European literature surrounding DMPS has
been summarized in the English language in a thorough scientific monograph
which is in its sixth edition.60 This monograph forms the basis for the
rational use of DMPS by clinicians throughout the world. This monograph also
formed the basis for the FDA sanctioned, multicentered trial on the use of
DMPS in the evaluation of mercury body burden and response to mercury
detoxification therapy in polysymptomatic patients with dental amalgams. (As
an aside, Dr. Cline was a participant in the official training program for
researchers participating in this multicentered trial and he achieved a mark
in the 90th percentile range on the examination required for participation).

In the DMPS monograph, there is extensive reference to the work being done
by European clinicians in the treatment of the polysymptomatic patient
suffering from demonstrable mercury body burden. DMPS is initially used to
assess the body burden of mercury and other heavy metals through provocation
testing. Several methodological variations of this test are described.
Because of the high degree of patient compliance, and because this
methodology is in keeping with the pharmacokinetics of DMPS, I have elected
to use the provocation testing methodology advocated by the German
toxicologist, M. Daunderer, M.D.(61, 60) In this methodology, DMPS is given
as a slow IV push. The patient then provides the first voided specimen after
one to one and one half hours. The urine is then sent overnight to a
toxicology laboratory. Mercury and other heavy metals are reported as
micrograms metal per gram of urinary creatinine. The creatinine compensates
for variations in urinary dilution. This has proven to be a simple test to
perform, with a high degree of patient compliance. The quantity of heavy
metal returned has generally correlated well to the symptom severity of the
patients I have seen. Furthermore, the changes in metal excretion with this
provocation test have corresponded well to the changes in symptom severity
of the patients which I have seen. The provocation test forms a rational
approach to the use of DMPS. When high quantities of toxic metals are no
longer found with provocation urine testing, the DMPS is of no further value
and its use may discontinued.

As mentioned previously, the pharmacology of DMPS has been extensively
described.(54,28) Both oral and parenteral preparations of this agent are
available. Pharmacokinetic data on both preparations are available.(62,63)
The parentaral from of this agent allows for better control over the dosage
in highly sensitive patients (the treatment can be interrupted if the
patient experiences adverse effects). The parenteral route also avoids
transport of metals from the gut to the liver through the portal circulation
and may be better tolerated by the highly sensitive patient.

The metabolism of DMPS has also been studied thoroughly. DMPS is excreted
largely through the urine. Before its excretion, DMPS is biotransformed
largely to acyclic and cyclic disulfides. This mode of biotransformation may
suggest one advantage of DMPS over the other dithiol chelator, DMSA
(succimer). As opposed to DMPS, DMSA is biotransformed almost completely to
a cysteine conjugate. Because of this, DMSA may lead to further depletion of
cysteine and glutathione stores, which are often already low in metal toxic
patients.(64,62,65,23) DMPS undergoes both renal and biliary excretion.(66)
DMPS is distributed in both an intracellular and extracellular
manner.(66,67,68) However, Unlike most other chelating agents, such as BAL
and EDTA, DMPS does not cross the blood brain barrier and does not
redistriute mercury to the brain(28).

The toxicity of DMPS is well known and, in this regard, it provides very
distinct advantages to the officially approved dithiol chelator, Dimercaprol
(BAL). Although BAL continues to be stockpiled by the military in
preparation for chemical warfare attack with the arsenical nerve gas,
lewisite, it is 300 times more toxic than DMPS, has no corresponding
challenge test and it clearly causes redistribution of metals to the
brain.(69) Animal studies on the acute and chronic toxicity of DMPS have
been carried out and the results illustrate the safety of this agent and its
wide therapeutic window.(60) Numerous human studies have failed to uncover
any significant adverse impacts of DMPS upon human renal function, liver
function, cardiovascular system, blood, immune system, G.I. tract or any
other organs or systems. Minor or avoidable side effects such as local
irritation at the site of parenteral infusion or hypotension with overly
rapid infusion of the agent have been reported.(60)

Rationale For Using DMPS:

The scientific rationale for using DMPS in determining the body burden of
and the removal of mercury and other heavy metals has been outlined above.
The clinical rationale for using DMPS in people suffering from idiopathic
polysymptomatic disorders such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome
is as follows. Current scientific understanding of these disorders suggests
that the etiologies are multifactorial and may have significant
environmental components including accumulation of heavy metals in key
target organs. Most patients coming to my clinic with these chronic
disorders have already attended several practitioners and have tried all
sorts of therapies, usually to no avail. These patients are well educated
regarding the various possible underlying etiologies and want to explore the
possibility that heavy metals may be an underlying factor. I have observed
that in most individuals in which mercury and other heavy metals are
present, that a major improvement in their health usually occurs when they
undergo detoxification using DMPS. This is in keeping with the observations
made by numerous clinicians in Europe and in the USA by the principle
investigators in the multicenter phase III, FDA approved clinical trial
mentioned earlier. Finally, I want to emphasize that DMPS is not being
utilized as the sole treatment in individuals suffering from these
disorders, but rather it is being utilized as a method to relieve the
patient of significant physiological stresses by decreasing the body burden
of heavy metals. Although further research is clearly required in this area,
my clinical experience over the last year in using DMPS has convinced me
that this valuable agent has a key role to play in the management of highly
disabling and previously intractable cases of chronic fatigue syndrome and
fibromyalgia. There are many patients in my practice who are now healthy
productive citizens instead of hopeless invalids, thanks to the use of DMPS
administered in a safe manner