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from the "think-of-the-children"-is-not-working-out-so-well-here dept.
A "cult" has been implicated in cases of parents forcing their children to drink bleach as an autism cure (and surprisingly, it's not the cult known as 4chan):
Parents are making their children drink industrial bleach to cure them of autism—with the potentially deadly practice linked back to a U.S. cult. According to British tabloid the Sunday People, six British police forces have probed cases in which children as young as two have been forced to undergo the potentially lethal treatment.
The treatment being administered is CD (Chloride Dioxide) or MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution)—with a secret Facebook group touting its use to desperate parents in the U.K. The method has been promoted by a controversial U.S. church with a branch in Los Angeles - the secretive Genesis II Church, founded by Jim Humble, a former scientologist.
A 2016 investigation by Eyewitness News and ABC News found an underground network clustered in southern California promoting MMS on Facebook as a cure for ailments including cancer, Parkinsons, and autism in children.
The previous year the BBC exposed a secret conference in which leading figures from the church travelled to the U.K. to promote the use of MMS, which it claims is a non-dangerous religious sacrament. They believe that autism is caused by pathogens and parasites, which Chloride Dioxide kills. Doctors say that the claims of adherents are groundless, the solution is untested and can cause serious harm.
Bleach: the drink of choice for sophisticated memers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 30 2018, @02:59PM (5 children)
There is no substance "bleach" although I suspect any chemical with bleaching properties is equally effective
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:05PM
Considering they never use the word "substance" in the summary, what pointless hair are you trying to split here?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Informative) by Zinho on Tuesday January 30 2018, @04:41PM (1 child)
From the fine summary:
That makes the "bleach" in question ClO2, which has its own Wikipedia page. [wikipedia.org]
Per that page, this would be a harmless purifying additive in water if its concentration were less than 0.8 mg/L; unfortunately, that's not what's being advertised.
The Miracle Mineral Solution [wikipedia.org] is a 28% (sometimes stronger, cults aren't so great at industrial process controls) solution of Sodium Chlorite (NaClO2), [wikipedia.org] intended to be reacted with either citric or hydrochloric acid prior to use. The reaction with the acid forms the ClO2. I'm not sure exactly what the concentration would be afterwards, but since 0.8mg/L is in the ballpark of 10-4%, it's safe to say that even a 10% final solution would be out of the safe bounds for ingestion.
HTH
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 2, Touché) by redneckmother on Tuesday January 30 2018, @05:12PM
Heh, heh... Zinho wrote "final solution"... heh, heh...
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:18PM
Maybe not, but it's a really good anime.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday January 30 2018, @10:22PM
On the contrary, there are many, including the specific two mentioned in TFS.