Re: andy- dr. boyd haley

[Guest guest]

why don't you try dr. boyd's message board.

when people are inaccessible they usually are for a reason

what do you think that reason is?

> andy, dr. haley seems to have done alot of work on mercury toxicity

> and seems very respected...he seems to think there isn't a problem

> with dmsa every 8 hrs and a problem with mercury dropping off and

re-

> depositing...can you explain why you don't think he is right ?

[Guest guest]

> andy, dr. haley seems to have done alot of work on mercury toxicity

> and seems very respected...he seems to think there isn't a problem

> with dmsa every 8 hrs and a problem with mercury dropping off and

re-

> depositing...can you explain why you don't think he is right ?

He is confusing equilibrium and kinetics. A discussion of this

problem can be found in any physical chemistry or chemical engineering

kinetics textbook. It is generally one of the more difficult concepts

to get through to people.

I have made several previous posts discussing analogies like musical

chairs and social dances. You can find those in the archives.

Technical reasons that I know my interpretation is correct are as

follows:

The most important, of course, being the redistribution effects seen

in people who take chelators wrong, e. g. DMSA every 8 hours instead

of every 4, DMPS injections monthly instead of pills every 8 hours,

ALA daily instead of every 3 hours. Apparently Boyd Haley hasn't

bothered to actually talk to people about what happened to them and

what they were doing.

More " techincal " reasoning is as follows:

The kinetics of toxin extraction by these chelators is about half

order. This is true in mice and men. Women and children too for

those who don't like older rhetorical styles ;-)

Anyone knowledgeable in the relevant areas of kinetics of course

realizes that the most likely explanation for this is transport

limitations on extraction rate. Toxin has to diffuse from where it is

to where it gets bound by the chelator.

If binding was high affinity and irreversible (the DMSA didn't drop

the mercury often) and extraction was diffusion controlled, then all

the mercury would immediately be scooped up by the first 0.1% of the

DMSA and not dropped, plasma concentration of mercury would go to very

low values, and diffusion from whatever reservoir into plasma would

occur at the maximum possible rate. Under this circumstance, a fixed

amount of mercury would be removed with every chelator dose regardless

of how much was given. In fact, excretion does increase with dosage

even though each dose has far more than enough DMSA in it to bind all

the mercury present in the body.

If binding were slow but irreversible, then extraction kinetics would

be linear. Doubling the amount of DMSA would double the amount of

mercury it removed. This isn't what happens.