“I’m from the government and I’m here to help”

By Nurse Mark

It was the late president Ronald Regan who famously said: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’"

It seems that the FDA has seen fit to “help” us some more and as a result a safe and useful treatment for chelating poisonous substances from the body is no longer freely available “over-the-counter” as it once was.

Dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) has a long history of safe and effective use as a chelating agent for heavy metals since it was first synthesized for that purpose. In 1957 Chinese researchers found it to be effective in chelating antimony, and in 1962 it was shown highly effective in treating arsenic and mercury poisoning. It is currently “indicated” (that means that conventional doctors are told that it is correct to use) in cases of lead poisoning.

It is water soluble and widely considered to be non-toxic.

So, why is this useful, non-toxic substance no longer available? Because it’s a drug!

Let me explain: DMSA has been freely available for purchase since it was first synthesized. We have stocked it here at The Wellness Club for as long as I can remember. It has never been a “big seller” since not many people need to chelate out heavy metals from their bodies, but we have kept it on hand as a service for the few people who do find themselves in a pickle and need to use this specialized supplement.

That, however, has now come to an end.

Why? Well, it seems that there is a prescription drug available called Chemet manufactured by Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Seymour, Indiana.

Because there is this FDA “approved” prescription drug available, even though it is nothing more than the DMSA that has been readily available without a prescription for all these years, the non-prescription DMSA is now illegal to sell. It is now considered to be an “unapproved drug.” How do you like that logic?

How do things like this happen? Well, it seems that if a pharmaceutical company can pony up enough cash to afford all the “fees” that must be paid to the FDA they can have almost anything declared a “drug” and “FDA Approved.” Once that happens the FDA then bans the sale of anything similar that is not “Approved.” Essentially, by coming up with millions of dollars in “fees” to the FDA a drug company can buy a monopoly on a substance – like DMSA.

Under different circumstances this might be called a “protection racket.” But when it’s done by the FDA it is called “protecting the public interest.”

Go figure.

The FDA: Your tax dollars, hard at work – protecting you from such things as Bextra, Acomplia, Vioxx…

Oh, wait… Sorry – those were “Approved” drugs, weren’t they!

Well, we’ll just have to be satisfied to be “protected” from the evil non-prescription version of DMSA.

Say… I have an idea: I’m going to see if I can get sodium chloride approved as a drug for use in the treatment of hyponatremia (low sodium). When that happens, table salt will become an “Unapproved Drug” and I’ll be the only one allowed to sell it – as a prescription drug of course…  Who wants to invest with me? A few millions of dollars in “approval fees” and we’ll be rich!

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