The word "chelation" derived from the Greek word "Chele," which means claw, like the claw of a crab or lobster. It implies a pincer-like binding, such as a claw of a lobster or crab, except in this situation, it is the binding of a chemical substance to a bivalent metal or other mineral.

In 1913, Alfred Werner received the Nobel Prize for elaborating the principal of chelation. Chelation therapy dates back to 1941 when sodium citrate was used in treating lead poisoning. EDTA was first synthesized in the late 1930's. In 1949, Frederic Bersworth, Biochemist, patented the process.

In 1948 a group of Detroit physicians were using EDTA to treat lead poisoning. This was done by an intravenous infusion of EDTA. They observed that one patient who not only had lead poisoning, but also arteriosclerosis, began to improve with the chelation treatment. It was noted the improvements were related to the symptoms of arteriosclerosis, not those that resulted from lead poisoning.

In the early 1950's, Norman Clark, M.D., who at the time was Director of Research at the Providence Hospital in Detroit, undertook clinical research of EDTA. He found EDTA effective in removing metastatic calcium deposits from the human body and hypothesized that since calcium was immediately involved, EDTA might help disintegrate the plaque in atherosclerosis and thus improve circulation. This was later reported in American Medical literature in about 1950.

Since that time, many thousands of physicians have worked with over 1,000,000 patients without one fatality due directly to the chelation treatment. Miraculous results have been obtained.