Site Preface

In your search for health information regarding hemochromatosis or excess iron you will encounter other groups with web sites of varying degrees of expertise.  Be careful of health information from hobbyist.

How are we different than those other groups?

We have been doing this for over 30 years.  When IOD first began its work in 1980 no one else was handling the problems of hemochromatosis, not the medical community, not the insurance industry, not the blood banks and not the government.  Early on physicians looked us in the eye and said "....never heard of it."  The NIH in Bethesda, Maryland asked  " How do you spell it."  

Through IOD's unremitting efforts that has all been changed.  Now more recently, when the topic of excess iron began to heat up, people flocked to us offering help.  When the scale of the problem became apparent hemochromatosis became a hot subject.  A few of these helpers decided to form their own fringe or splinter groups.  IOD does not pay high salaries but instead puts its money into 10 major programs and a number of sub programs.  Some differences from some of the other sites are that are that we do not recommend either genetic testing or liver biopsy as necessary for diagnosis or to begin treatment for hemochromatosis.

Our long-standing Board of Directors is made up of doctors, scientists and health professionals who are acknowledged experts in their various fields.  We are proud of their many accomplishments.  They write in the medical literature and report at meetings.  Most have been credited with new discoveries in medicine and with fresh insights into the problems of too much iron.  They also act as our scientific review committee.  Be careful of  iron groups who are without a Board of Directors.   

The staff at IOD also makes presentations at both domestic and international meetings and symposiums.  We publish a cyber newsletter entitled Ironic Blood.  Our founder and president Roberta Crawford has written two books on the subject.  We stay at the cutting edge of all of the latest medical literature.  We initiate and participate in research.  We welcome you to our web site and wish to encourage you to become a member of our organization and join us in our efforts for universal health information on iron overload.