Page 55 - Spring2018

THINGS TO NEVER EVER DO

The Andy Cutler protocol takes into consideration mercury’s tendency to redistribute from harmless places in
the body to the brain and sensitive organs. In contrast, less well-thought-out detox methods can redistribute mercury
indiscriminately. Thus, it is important to completely stay away from other commonly cited chelation vehicles and
strategies, such as taking chelators off their half-life; using cilantro, EDTA or chlorella; using ALA for anything other
than chelating; or using anything other than vitamin C intravenously.

DO NOT TAKE CHELATORS OFF THEIR HALF-LIFE: Taking a few hundred milligrams of DMSA twice a day, every
eight hours or every other day, will make someone sicker than they already are. It mobilizes way more mercury than
the body can possibly excrete and causes too much redistribution.

AVOID CILANTRO: From the horror stories we hear from people who tried to detox with cilantro, we think that it is
an actual fat-soluble chelator that crosses the blood-brain barrier, similar to ALA. Nobody knows the active ingredient
in cilantro, nobody knows its half-life and there are no standardized doses, so it is almost impossible to use properly.
Although it is indeed “perfectly natural,” so are botulism, strychnine and hemlock. Some of the worst stories of regres-
sion we hear come from people who juiced cilantro or made cilantro smoothies or salads.

AVOID EDTA: EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) is not a clinically useful chelator for mercury. Although it in-
creases the amount of mercury that shows up in the urine, it does not chelate mercury from sensitive organs nor clear
it from the body. Using EDTA will actually make someone get worse by moving mercury out of harmless locations
into the brain, liver and hormone-producing glands. EDTA does chelate lead very effectively, and it can also be used
to clear minerals out of clogged arteries. It is unwise to use EDTA until after removing all amalgam fillings and doing
several years of chelating with ALA.

AVOID CHLORELLA: A true chelator has two thiol groups that latch onto the mercury ion securely enough to get it
moving along out of the body. Chlorella contains various molecules that have only one thiol group, so it picks up the
mercury and flings it around indiscriminately. In nature, chlorella can absorb heavy metals—and is often contaminated
with them—absorbing them from the inorganic environment, which has few thiols, not from other living things, which
have plenty. In a living body, chlorella does not absorb heavy metals but causes their redistribution.

DO NOT USE ALA FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN CHELATING: Chemicals do not care what we think or what the
most important doctor in the world tells them to do. Chemicals act entirely according to the laws of nature. Many
practitioners prescribe ALA because it is a powerful antioxidant. A common recommendation we have heard is six
hundred milligrams a day to treat diabetes. Apparently ALA is effective for that, but it is also a chelator, and over
time, if someone has any mercury in their body, the ALA regimen will concentrate mercury into their brain and other
sensitive organs. In short, ALA acts as both an antioxidant and a chelator at the same time. Practitioners and patients
will not realize that the neurological issues that slowly develop are due to the misuse of ALA. No matter what the
practitioner’s intent in prescribing ALA—whether as an antioxidant, for liver protection or to treat diabetic neuropa-
thy—the ALA also will chelate any available mercury. Because it is not being given on a proper schedule, the result
will be to gradually concentrate mercury into the brain and other sensitive organs.

DO NOT USE ANYTHING INTRAVENOUSLY EXCEPT VITAMIN C: Many (and even most) practitioners who treat heavy
metals want to do intravenous (IV) chelation. However, an IV of a chelator is a hazardous proposition because it will
mobilize a huge amount of mercury, the bulk of which will be redistributed. Glutathione is another IV never to do. A
glutathione IV will mobilize mercury without getting any of it out of the body, causing a huge “redistribution event.”
It is common for people to become mentally ill and develop bipolar disorder as well as many other problems after
these IV glutathione interventions. At best, they provide only temporary symptom relief, and they don’t remove any
toxic metals from where they are doing damage. The most dangerous aspect about glutathione IVs is that people often
have several good experiences with them first, so they ignore the warnings and keep on going until the bad one hits.

SPRING 2018 Wise Traditions 53