SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
People are Still Drinking Bleach-and Vomiting and Pooping their Guts Out:
The "Church of Bleach" is still strong, despite years of warnings.
The US Food and Drug Administration this week released an important health warning that everyone should heed: drinking bleach is dangerous—potentially life-threatening—and you should not do it.
The warning may seem unnecessary, but guzzling bleach is an unfortunately persistent problem. Unscrupulous sellers have sold "miracle" bleach elixirs for decades, claiming that they can cure everything from cancer to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, flu, hair loss, and more. Some have promoted it to parents as a way to cure autism in children—prompting many allegations of child abuse.
Of course, the health claims are false, not to mention abhorrent. When users prepare the solution as instructed, it turns into the potent bleaching agent chlorine dioxide, which is an industrial cleaner. It's toxic to drink and can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, life-threatening low blood pressure, acute liver failure, and damage to the digestive tract and kidneys.
In this week's warning, the FDA noted that some sellers will warn consumers that vomiting and diarrhea are common but say that those unpleasant effects indicate the solution is "working."
"That claim is false," the FDA wrote succinctly.
The agency released a nearly identical warning back in 2010. But in this week's consumer alert, the agency said that it has continued to receive "many reports" of consumers sickened by these bleach-based potions.
[...] The FDA says that the products have been hard to scrub out because of claims on social media, where the drinks are promoted along with false health information. Most of the claims can be traced back to Jim Humble, founder and "archbishop" of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, aka "The Church of Bleach."
Humble has been touting the solution for nearly two decades, referring to it as MMS—Miracle or Master Mineral Solution. (It's also known as the Miracle Mineral Supplement, the Chlorine Dioxide (CD) Protocol, and Water Purification Solution (WPS).) Humble is a former Scientologist who reportedly claims to be a billion-year-old god from the Andromeda galaxy.
I am at a loss for words. That someone has such low regard for other people that he would actively try and persuade parents to give a poison to a child — with autism — and claim the puking and diarrhea are proof it is working.
My heart goes out to the poor, defenseless kid! I just can't fathom. Speechless.
(Score: 5, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday August 16 2019, @01:47PM (3 children)
OOOOH! So good to know you're not using sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide then. Good.
Oh, wait....
If you drink poison, expect to be poisoned. Duh.
Now, does that mean you can't consume any bleach whatsoever? No. Halazone is a form of bleach and it is used, as intended and directed on the label, to purify water. Though you'll hate drinking it without adding something else to it to mask its flavor. Water chlorination is achieved by using a bleach, again as directed for the application using the correct formulation. It is possible to use plain old Chlorox (if you can find it) to get the same effect, although one must be very careful with the proportion. But the EPA will tell you how to do so if you face a water emergency [epa.gov].
Any medical professional can tell you these things. And any medical professional can tell you why it is a generally stupid idea to do so when there are safer and more efficacious methods. Because it kills - not just bad stuff but good stuff too. And since it is easy to screw up and kill yourself, and since there are better applications for any medical problem, no first-world medical professional will tell you using it is OK. Because science.
By the way, didn't anyone teach you that the singular of data is not anecdote? Especially with crap that can kill you more easily than it can help you?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @01:54PM (2 children)
Water can be poison too. Poison is determined by dose, you can't call a given substance poison or not.
(Score: 1, Troll) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday August 16 2019, @02:02PM (1 child)
Sell your bullshit somewhere else, thanks.
This sig for rent.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @02:21PM
Go eat your daily recommended dose of carbohydrate poison. Down forget to wash it down with your favorite caffinated beverage. Lol.