Controversial autism therapy used in Ireland

AUTISTIC children in Ireland have been treated with a controversial therapy that may be linked with the death of an autistic boy in the United States.

US officials are still not sure what killed five-year-old Abubakar Tariq Nadama who went into cardiac arrest and died on Tuesday after receiving his third chelation therapy treatment at a clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The treatment has been endorsed by the US Food and Drug Administration for the removal of heavy metals from the system but not for the treatment of autism, a neurological and developmental disorder.