Conscious Choice Seattle: Northwest Sources for Chelation

November 2004 | Letters to the Editor

Northwest Sources for Chelation

Thanks so much for publishing the article on chelation in your October health section. In 2002, I was in a situation similar to Bill Clinton’s. I chose chelation rather than bypass surgery.

We are fortunate here in the Northwest to have a few great chelation doctors, including mine, Dr. Jonathan Collin, who is also the founder and publisher of the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients.

I started out with two sessions per week, and have slowly shifted over the years to having one “maintenance” session per month. During that time, I have spent many hours listening to the stories and anecdotal evidence that chelation is very effective.

The one thing that stands out in my mind is the fact that so many of the stories have been so similar. There is a clear pattern of moving an unsuspecting patient from weak symptoms to angiogram to angioplasy to stent to the $60,000 bypass surgery in as short a period as possible — usually, a matter of days, so that a person does not think about his situation or consider other possible treatments.

The other thing that I can’t help but recall is the number of elderly people who are thriving on chelation. One man I know is 95 and continues to snow ski. When I first met him, I thought he was in his late 70s.

Thanks again for the great work.

Lloyd Sieden, Bellevue

Pesticides in Schools Is Everyone’s Issue

Thanks to Bob Condor for a well-written and timely piece on the use of pesticides at our children’s schools (”Chemical Reaction,” September). This is not just an “activists’ issue”; it is an issue that should be on the minds of every parent and anyone who cares about the disturbing decline in American children’s overall health. We need to educate all parents and school officials on the very real hazards posed by indiscriminate use of toxins in and around our schools and homes. Your article is a step forward in that regard.

As parents within the Lake Washington school district (LWSD), one of the many reasons we are seriously considering homeschooling our children is the unsafe environment within the LWSD and its negligent failure to implement an integrated pest management approach and to stop using toxic cleaners inside the classroom.

The statement in your article by a LWSD board member that “a dangerous chemical in your mind is not necessarily a high-hazard chemical in mine” is just plain ignorant, especially coming from someone whose mandate is to be proactively mindful of children’s well-being while in school. Indeed, the LWSD is playing a wait-and-see game with our children’s brains, nervous systems and overall health, and this is not a game that parents want to play.

We need to insist that all school districts take a proactive, not reactive, approach to adopting nontoxic policies so that we can protect our children from preventable cancers, ADD, asthma, allergic reactions and myriad other toxin-induced ailments.

There is so much in our world that we can’t control, but this is one area we can and must take action. We need to insist on healthier alternatives for our children. In light of the indisputable increase in serious childhood illnesses, shouldn’t we all be doing anything and everything we can to eliminate all potential negative influences on the health of our children?

Thanks again for the great article. It’s time to get to work.

Sharon and Blake Ilstrup, Redmond

Parent Activism Equals Less Toxins

My wife brought home your magazine today and I read your excellent article (”Chemical Reaction,” September).

I am the chairman of the Martha Lake Elementary School Adopt-An-Area program. This is the volunteer program that performs most of the grounds maintenance at the school so that the school district will not use herbicides/pesticides. We had a write-up in the Seattle Times last year and I am including the link in case your readers are interested: tinyurl.com/4kan9

Ron Martinez, Father of third- and second-graders

When EM Arrives Just in Time

There are no accidents! Your article (”New Age Bullies,” September) came at the time I needed it most. Thank you! I so very much appreciate Julia Ingram’s point of not blaming oneself.

Sandra Greer, Everett

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