Heavy metals link to chronic illnesses - Hong Kong paediatrician Lillian Y.Y. Ko, M.D.

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Heavy metals link to chronic illnesses

EU HOOI KHAW <mailto:features@...>

Mar 15:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/BodySoul/20050314153815/Article/i\

ndexb_html

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Autism, hperactivity, chronic allergies, asthma and epilepsy, among

others, have been linked to toxic levels of heavy metals such as mercury

and lead in the blood.

A Hong Kong paediatrician tells EU HOOI KHAW how such patients can be

helped.

LISTENING to Dr Lillian Y.Y. Ko talk about the dangers to health caused

by chronic exposure to low concentration of heavy metals made me think

about the allergies I suffered as a child. How my face once bloated up

till my eyes were two slits, and how it was surmised (by the

neighbours!) that it must have been due to breathing in the new paint in

our house.

I must say it was quite an accurate diagnosis, as lead, a heavy metal,

is contained in paint. But what is alarming now is that the incidence of

chronic allergic disorders has risen to an epidemic level globally, said

Dr Ko, mainly due to exposure to heavy metals, such as mercury present

in seafood, and lead in paint, dust, gasoline emission and industrial

contamination.

Dr Ko, a consultant paediatrician with the Hong Kong Child Development

Centre in Hong Kong, and who has her own private practice, had done a

pilot study on the effects of heavy metal detoxification on children

with chronic allergies, and she presented a paper on this at the Sixth

Malaysian Congress of Allergy and Immunology in Kuala Lumpur recently.

[foto] SEEKING HER OUT: Participants at the congress finding out more

from Dr Ko (right)

She said in Hong Kong the prevalence of such chronic allergic disorders

in young schoolchildren is 42.4 per cent for allergic rhinitis, 12 per

cent for bronchial asthma and 28 per cent for atopic eczema.

Many of these children suffered serious consequences to their health in

spite of intensive conventional medical treatment. In Dr Ko's pilot

study, multi-element hair analysis was performed on 404 childten with

such disorders and 67.82 per cent of these children were found to have a

markedly evelated level of heavy metals, predominantly mercury (79.93

per cent), lead (33.94 per cent) or both (13.87 per cent).

" Preliminary studies in Hong Kong revealed contaminated seafood

consumption as one of the major sources of organic mercury exposure, "

she said. She set out to learn more about treating it.

Dr Ko, whose professional CV runs into a few pages, and who was listed

in the Who's Who in the World 1993-1994, specialised in child

development, and has seen patients from normal baby care and illnesses

to neurological developmental disorders such as autism, hyperactivity

and dyslexia.

Her interest in clinical metal toxicology did not start with a child,

but her mum. " Because she was aging, she had mild diabetes and

hypertension, and in spite of treatment by specialists, she still had

dizziness from time to time. She always felt weak and tired.

" I heard about this chelation therapy with IV EDTA, a drug intravenously

given in a therapy started in the US by the American College for the

Advancement of Medicine. This treatment was effective in opening up the

blood vessels and increasing blood flow to the brain. "

She also chanced to attend a seminar on mercury where in a presentation

she saw where the heavy metal seemed to attack most, namely the visual

and speech centres that autistic children have most problems with.

So for the sake of her mother, and her patients, she set off for the US

in 1997 to train in clinical metal toxicology.

She gave this therapy to her mother, whose health improved a lot. " She

is 84 now and still very energetic. "

She also started treating children with autism, eczema, allergic

rhinitis and asthma. " A lot of them had raised levels of mercury or

lead. To my pleasant surprise, after putting them on a detoxification

programme and bringing down the heavy metal content, their health and

development showed a marked improvement.

" In Hong Kong we have a lot of pollution and the children's diet has a

very high intake of fish. "

After seeing 1,000 cases of similar pattern, she began to identify it as

the missing link, and " the major factor as to why we are seeing an

epdiemic rise in the prevalence of chronic allergies and autistic

disorders in children worldwide.

" Last year I travelled to seven countries -- Macau, the Philippines,

Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico and the US -- to present my findings.

" In the US autism used to be 10 children per 10,000, now it's one in 166. "

Dr Ko sees a lot of autistic children and some have almost completely

recovered with her detoxification programme. " If they come early it's

feasible to remove these heavy metals. I prefer to see them between the

ages of three and four, before the metals harm their brain cells. These

heavy metals can cross the placenta and pass from mother to baby, and

also through breast feeding. "

In Hong Kong a recent survey showed 25 per cent of normal newborn babies

have raised mercury content in the cord blood at birth. " It's very

alarming. Later these children will show a lot of allergies and

hyperactivity. "

*

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