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Doctor's Data, Inc. is a clinical laboratory based in St. Charles, Illinois that is often used by practitioners of alternative medicine. [1]
Founded in 1972, the company was originally known as Bio Medical Data, Inc. until the early 1980s, when it changed its name to Doctor's Data. It was originally owned by Miller Pharmacal, which was founded by John J. Miller, former research chemist for J.B. Roerig, which was purchased in 1953 by Pfizer. Miller died in 1977, and three owners took control of the company with Ted Lueken as president.[ citation needed ]
Doctor's Data has proven controversial because of the four lawsuits that have been filed by people who say that the company victimized them by diagnosing them as having toxic metal poisoning based on their urinalysis tests, and then prescribing them chelation therapy. According to Patricia Callahan, the problem with these tests and the way they are interpreted is that, after administering a chelator to their patients, "Doctor's Data...compared those drug-provoked results to a reference range calculated for people who had never been given a chelation drug." [2] In addition, they have faced considerable criticism from Stephen Barrett, who has described how provoked urine test reports are used to mislead patients. [3] and has also written negatively about hair analysis in general, which he contends is "unscientific, economically wasteful, and probably illegal." [4] Arthur Allen has also criticized the methodology of their urinalysis tests, saying that they "...present the results [from their urine analysis tests] in such a way that it almost guarantees a finding of "toxicity" for each child." [5] In response to this criticism, Doctor's Data president Ted Lueken argued that "the technique can be valuable when used along with other tests and a doctor's knowledge of his patient." [6] Doctor's Data later sued Barrett on June 18, 2010, accusing him of "...harm[ing] Doctor's Data by transmitting false, fraudulent and defamatory information about this company in a variety of ways" in his writings about the company. [7]
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was initially created in 1991 as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before receiving its current name in 2014. NCCIH is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Urinalysis, a portmanteau of the words urine and analysis, is a panel of medical tests that includes physical (macroscopic) examination of the urine, chemical evaluation using urine test strips, and microscopic examination. Macroscopic examination targets parameters such as color, clarity, odor, and specific gravity; urine test strips measure chemical properties such as pH, glucose concentration, and protein levels; and microscopy is performed to identify elements such as cells, urinary casts, crystals, and organisms.
Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very specific medical treatments, although it is administered under very careful medical supervision due to various inherent risks, including the mobilization of mercury and other metals through the brain and other parts of the body by the use of weak chelating agents that unbind with metals before elimination, exacerbating existing damage. To avoid mobilization, some practitioners of chelation use strong chelators, such as selenium, taken at low doses over a long period of time.
Stephen Joel Barrett is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific skepticism.
Quackwatch is a United States-based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere". Since 1996 it has operated the alternative medicine watchdog website quackwatch.org, which advises the public on unproven or ineffective alternative medical remedies. The site contains articles and other information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine.
Metabolic typing is considered by some a pseudoscience whose proponents believe that each person has a unique metabolism, and that the proportion of macromolecules which are optimal for one person may not be for a second, and could even be detrimental to them.
Bernard Rimland was an American research psychologist, writer, lecturer, and influential person in the field of developmental disorders. Rimland's first book, Infantile Autism, sparked by the birth of a son who had autism, was instrumental in changing attitudes toward the disorder. Rimland founded and directed two advocacy groups: the Autism Society of America (ASA) and the Autism Research Institute. He promoted several since disproven theories about the causes and treatment of autism, including vaccine denial, facilitated communication, chelation therapy, and false claims of a link between secretin and autism. He also supported the ethically controversial practice of using aversives on autistic children.
Orthomolecular psychiatry is the use of orthomolecular medicine for mental illness. The approach uses unorthodox forms of individualized testing and diagnosis to attempt to establish an etiology for each patient's specific symptoms, and claims to tailor the treatment accordingly, using a combination of nutrients, dietary changes and medications that are claimed to enhance quality of life and functionality as well as to reduce or eliminate symptoms and the use of xenobiotic drugs. Scientific studies have shown mixed results; although there are some promising results from nutritional psychiatry, some forms of orthomolecular psychiatry are ineffective.
Generation Rescue is a nonprofit organization that advocates the scientifically disproven view that autism and related disorders are primarily caused by environmental factors, particularly vaccines. The organization was established in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley. Today, Generation Rescue is known as a platform for Jenny McCarthy's autism related anti-vaccine advocacy.
Thiomersal is a mercury compound which is used as a preservative in some vaccines. Anti-vaccination activists promoting the incorrect claim that vaccination causes autism have asserted that the mercury in thiomersal is the cause. There is no scientific evidence to support this claim. The idea that thiomersal in vaccines might have detrimental effects originated with anti-vaccination activists and was sustained by them and especially through the action of plaintiffs' lawyers.
Lorraine Jeanette Day was an American author, orthopedic trauma surgeon and Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital and promoter of alternative cancer treatments.
In mainstream scientific usage, hair analysis is the chemical analysis of a hair sample. The use of hair analysis in alternative medicine as a method of investigation to assist alternative diagnosis is controversial and its use in this manner has been opposed repeatedly by the AMA because of its unproven status and its potential for healthcare fraud.
ApothéCure was a Dallas, Texas-based compounding pharmacy that specialized in custom compounded formulas and nutritional supplements for both patients and physicians. ApothéCure was a sister corporation of the Texas Institute of Functional Medicines. The company was the subject of multiple lawsuits starting in the mid-2000s.
Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds is the fifth book published by New York Times bestselling author, activist and television personality Jenny McCarthy. Her previous book, Louder Than Words, reached #3 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has more than 200,000 hardcovers in print after five printings. Many of McCarthy's assertions within the book, such as that she cured her son's autism and the benefits of chelation are highly disputed within the medical and scientific community, as chelation therapy has been fatal in at least one instance. The foreword was written by her son's pediatrician, Jay Gordon.
Jeffrey A. Brent is a medical toxicologist who is a distinguished clinical professor of medicine and emergency medicine at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine. In addition, he is a professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Colorado School of Public Health. He is also the past president of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, was editor in chief of the journal Toxicological Reviews, and was a member of the board of directors of the American College of Medical Toxicology. Previously, most of Brent's research focused on the use of fomepizole as a treatment for both methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning, and he led a trial of this drug which resulted in the FDA approving it in December 1997. Currently, Brent serves as Director of the Toxicology Investigators Consortium, an NIH and FDA supported multi center research and surveillance group. Brent is also a senior editor of "Critical Care Toxicology: Diagnosis and Management of the Critically Poisoned Patient," originally published in 2005, and now in its second edition, which was published in 2017.
James Jeffrey "Jeff" Bradstreet, was an American doctor, alternative medicine practitioner, and a former preacher who ran the International Child Development Resource Center in Melbourne, Florida, a medical practice in Buford, Georgia and in Arizona, where he practiced homeopathy. He also founded the Good News Doctor Foundation, which aimed to combine Christian beliefs with his medical practice.
The Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT) is a non-profit autism organization. It was founded in 1998 and is currently based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Members of its advisory board include Eric Fombonne and Stephen Barrett, Tristam Smith was one of its board members until his death in August 2018. A report by the Association for Behavior Analysis International mentioned ASAT's website as a useful resource for parents of children with autism, as does the website of the University of North Texas and that of the University of Michigan Health System.
William Shaw is an American chemist and the founder of Mosaic Diagnostics, formerly Great Plains Laboratory, based in Lenexa, Kansas. Great Plains Laboratory is listed as "performing nonstandard laboratory tests" by Quackwatch.
Rashid Ali Buttar was an American conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer and licensed osteopathic physician. He was known for his controversial use of chelation therapy for numerous conditions, including autism and cancer. He was twice reprimanded by the North Carolina Board of Medical Examiners for unprofessional conduct and cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for illegal marketing of unapproved and adulterated drugs. An analysis found that Buttar was one of the top twelve individual and organization accounts producing up to 65% of all anti-vaccine content on Twitter and Facebook.