In its simplest terms, the rationale for its efficacy is that EDTA, in binding ionic metal catalysts and removing them from the body, reduces subsequent abnormal production of oxygen free radical reactive molecules and molecular fragments which react destructively with other molecules. See, E. M. Cranton, J. P. Frackelton, Free Radical Pathology in Age-Associated Diseases: Treatment with EDTA Chelation, Nutrition, and Antioxidants, Journal of Advancement in Medicine, Vol. 2, Nos. 1, 2, Spring/Summer, 1989.¹

There is now widespread agreement that EDTA removes metallic catalysts which cause excessive oxygen free radical proliferation, thereby reducing pathological lipid peroxidation of cell membranes, DNA, enzyme systems and lipoproteins and allowing the body's natural healing mechanisms to halt and often reverse the disease process.

Steinberg, et al., state in the April 6, 1989, New England Journal of Medicine, 1989; 320(14):915-924, concerning Modifications of Low-density Lipoprotein That Increase Its Atherogenicity through free radical peroxidation, "oxidative modification is absolutely dependent on low concentrations of copper or iron in the medium and is therefore completely inhibited by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)."²

Chelation therapy is considered by the licensed physicians who utilize it to be an effective first step alternative to surgical treatment for atherosclerotic vascular disease in most cases. In the instances where a licensed physician believes that bypass surgery or the interventional cardiac catheterization techniques of thrombolysis and balloon angioplasty are more appropriate, he or she will refer those patients out. These alternatives to chelation therapy though are not without their respective detractors and attendant risks.

In September 1978 the Office of Technology Assessment ("OTA"), a branch of the United States Congress, aided by an advisory board composed of leading medical and university school faculty, published a report entitled Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Medical Technologies. One portion of that report discussed the efficacy and safety of surgery for coronary artery disease, concluding as follows:

Coronary artery bypass surgery is based on a scientific rationale and may be of measurable benefit to some patients. It is usually performed for angina pectoris and appears to give substantial relief from symptoms, but the extent to which this relief is an effect of surgery is not known. Limited studies suggest that coronary bypass surgery improves life expectancy significantly for only a small number of patients, with a particular type of coronary artery disease. Controlled studies have shown no improvement in life expectancy for patients studied (emphasis added). Id. at page 44. ³

The importance of this analysis is its recognition, though over 70,000 operations were performed in 1977, that the benefits of such surgery have yet to be demonstrated.⁴

A more recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (March 22, 1984) reported upon myocardial infarction and mortality in the coronary artery surgery study (CASS) randomized trial, and summarized as follows in the Abstract: