When people have a terminal illness and are confronted with the real possibility of imminent death, one cannot fault them for taking desperate measures in the hope of a miracle cure. This was what we saw in the early days of the AIDS epidemic when people were dying in large numbers and there was no effective treatment. Sufferers felt that the conventional protocols for finding treatments that depended on the usual three phases of trials to ensure safety and efficacy were far too slow and that seriously ill patients should be allowed to try experimental treatments that had not met the standards for approval.
AIDS activists demanded changes to the system and Anthony Fauci was one of their targets because he was a proponent of not changing the existing protocols for gaining approval. But after being confronted by activists, to his credit he changed his mind, realizing that allowing people who had nothing to lose be part of clinical testing could be beneficial to them and even to the testing process. And indeed it was.
What is harder to understand is people who are not in danger of imminent death taking unproven and potentially dangerous treatments as preventative measures to ward off dangers that have not as yet affected them. I am talking about this report that says that Amazon is selling industrial bleach and people are buying them in the belief that it will stop them from getting covid-19.
Industrial bleach is being sold on Amazon through its product pages which consumers are buying under the mistaken belief that it is a “miracle cure” for Covid-19, despite health warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration that drinking the fluid can kill.
The chlorine dioxide solutions are being sold on the Amazon platform under the brand name CD Kit and NatriChlor. Third-party sellers signal the bleach as a “water treatment” and include legal disclaimers that the liquid is “not marketed for internal use”.
But comments from Amazon customers under the review section of the pages tell a different story. Users discuss how many drops of bleach they are imbibing and explain they are drinking the chemical which they call MMS to “disinfect ourselves”, a phrase that echoes Donald Trump’s controversial remarks in April that injections of disinfectant could cure Covid-19.
One purchaser, writing in Spanish, said his family had started taking bleach soon after the coronavirus pandemic hit the US. “Many people still don’t believe in it, but I am sure that it has helped us a lot,” he said.
Another Amazon customer wrote: “My mom who is 77 got Corona, Covid, and had a whole body-ache stomach upset, very extreme headache, fatigue … Well, she started taking MMS and NOT KIDDING you, she was practically half better the NEXT day and the day after she was totally good!!”
…The American Association of Poison Control Centers has recorded more than 16,000 cases of chlorine dioxide poisoning, including 2,500 cases of children under 12. Many of those individuals suffered serious side effects, the group noted, including a six-year-old autistic girl who three years ago required hospital treatment for liver failure.
This MMS (which stands for “Miracle Mineral Solution”) quack remedy has been going on for some time and I wrote about it twice last year but Trump’s idiotic comments about the possible benefits of ingesting bleach have likely broadened the number of people who have heard of it and are taking it in the belief that it may ward off covid-19.
These are likely the same people who think that vaccines are dangerous.
Incidentally, that testimonial above from the man about his mother had a totally false ring to it. It read just like something a snake-oil selling huckster would write.
It is one thing that idiots are treating themselves with bleach, but when they force their children to take it, it should be considered child abuse subject to legal prosecution.
Why would you need a “miracle cure” for something the week before you thought was a hoax?
New for 2020 -- Bleach Kool-Aid!
Agreed. I perceived it the same, mistrustful way.
Reports are that drinking bleach has killed 7 people in the USA.
The number of people with permanent damage is undoubtedly much higher.
It is illegal to sell MMS as a consumer product in the US, whether it’s marked for internal use or not. It’s called “industrial” for a reason: it’s legally bought by industries only. It is much more dangerous than concentrated Chlorox bleach.
Immoral peddlars of MMS to parents of autistic children have been cautioned by the authorities for than once for trying to import, or encouraging people to illegally buy, MMS from Mexico.
Amazon needs to follow the law and yank those products ASAP. Someone is going to die or suffer severe internal injuries.
DMSO, an industrial solvent, was another such product that was hawked in the late 70s as a treatment for just about everything that ails you.
But it’s delicious, no?
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard something pitched at me that boils down to “just try this, it’ll cure your disability”, I’d be a millionaire. Cerebral palsy isn’t curable. The physical effects can be treated, physical therapy is kind of a mixed-bag but works well for maintaining mobility, orthotics & mobility devices get me around, and that’s all fine. But you can’t “cure” the wonky brain-bits that are the root cause.
Worse are the parents who force these “treatments” on their Autistic or disabled children, in hopes of getting their “real child” back. Yikes. Poisoning your kid isn’t okay. Consent matters. That Autistic or disabled kid is very much their “real” kid — this “changeling” shit’s offensive on so many levels, and hurtful to the child in ways I do not have words for.
On the other hand, if a grown-ass adult is dumb enough to ingest industrial bleach… *sigh* You can’t fix stupid. (Trust me, I’ve tried. I recently broke up with (now-ex) Partner because the stupid was too strong and was putting me in danger.)