Malaria, AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, cancer.聽聽Terrible diseases.聽聽That鈥檚 why thousands and thousands of scientists around the world, armed with advanced degrees, are engaged in research projects aimed at finding a cure.
Now, ask yourself this question: what is the chance of a gold prospector, with no training in the health sciences, tackling a problem and finding an answer that has eluded the world鈥檚 most renowned researchers?聽聽Furthermore, it鈥檚 simple to administer, readily available, and to boot, also destroys the H1N1 virus, clears up acne, eliminates heavy metals and cures the common cold.聽聽I can tell you what probability I would attach to this miracle solution performing as claimed.聽聽Let me see now, how does 鈥渮ero鈥� sound?
There鈥檚 nothing subtle about the name of this purported wonder: 鈥淢iracle Mineral Solution (MMS)!鈥澛犅燱ell, there are no miracles to be had.聽聽Or minerals.聽聽Admittedly, however, there is a solution.聽聽Not a solution to any problem, but a solution in the sense of a substance being dissolved in water.聽聽And that substance is sodium chlorite, a common disinfectant and bleaching agent.聽聽Its chief promoter, Jim Humble, is either a brilliant inventor, a self-delusional scientifically-bewildered simpleton, or a cunning scoundrel.聽聽Take your pick.聽聽I know which box I would tick off.
In a decidedly non-humble fashion, Humble claims that 鈥渢his breakthrough can save your life, or the life of a loved one.鈥澛犅燞e then brags that his discovery is the answer to AIDS, hepatitis A,B and C, malaria, herpes, TB, most cancers and many more of mankind's worse diseases."聽聽Of course you may not have heard of this revolutionary treatment because it is being hidden from the public by those devilish pharmaceutical companies whose profits would be destroyed if the word got out about all diseases being cured in such a simple fashion.
Let鈥檚 just trace how this visionary, this wonder-worker, this mental colossus, discovered the gift 鈥渢hat would shift the course of human health history forever.鈥澛犅營ncidentally, MMS wasn鈥檛 this amazing philanthropist鈥檚 first gift to humanity.聽聽That was the automatic garage door opener, which humble Humble supposedly invented although I can鈥檛 find any documented evidence for this claim.
In any case, the MMS saga begins in the South American jungle where our hero was prospecting for gold when two of his men fell ill with malaria.聽聽With no prospects for immediate medical help, Humble had to resort to his razor-sharp wits.聽聽Actually, I don鈥檛 think there was much chance of any cuts being inflicted.聽聽The sodium chlorite solution he had brought along to disinfect water obviously killed bacteria, our champion thought, maybe it would also destroy whatever was causing the malaria.聽聽So, he gave the men some of the solution and was stunned to see their symptoms vanish in just four hours.聽聽I bet he was!
Now Humble had a new calling, rid the world of malaria.聽聽He started to treat sick South Americans but found that the sodium chlorite solution was only effective 70% of the time.聽聽Not good enough for this dazzling mind!聽聽He began to experiment with his concoction and discovered that when mixed with citric acid, the chlorite would be converted to chlorine dioxide, which turned out to be a superior treatment.聽聽Wow!聽聽Before long, Humble claimed to have registered 75,000 successful treatments of malaria with his miracle product.
Strange, but I can鈥檛 find any of these spectacular results documented in the scientific literature.聽聽Wouldn鈥檛 you think that the discovery of such a simple cure for malaria would merit publication?聽聽Surely a Nobel Prize would be in the offing!聽聽Ah, I know.聽聽It must be those dastardly jealous scientists, or the evil pharmaceutical companies that are preventing publication.聽聽Yup.聽聽Must be.聽聽As a supporter explains, 鈥淗umble had become so famous that two drug companies contacted the Minister of Health (in an unnamed country) and threatened to quit shipping drugs to the local hospitals if she didn鈥檛 do something about the person claiming to be able to cure malaria.鈥澛犅燭hose fiendish companies!聽聽It鈥檚 a wonder they have allowed Humble to live.聽聽Actually.聽聽Maybe they haven鈥檛.聽聽聽Attempts to contact him repeatedly fail.聽聽I鈥檓 told he is 鈥渢ravelling鈥� the world, busily helping people.聽聽Helping them lighten their wallets, I suspect.聽聽If you want to know the details of his discovery, that is 鈥渉ow to manufacture it in your own kitchen, how to use it intravenously, how to cure colds in an hour, how to cure the worst of flu in 12 hours, how to treat cancer, AIDS and hundreds of other problems,鈥� you have to buy his book.
I鈥檓 not sure how to describe that epic work, but 鈥渃omedic鈥� comes to mind.聽聽Discussions about how chlorine dioxide 鈥渆longates the electron shell鈥� of pathogens, and how its safety is confirmed by the fact that its 鈥渙xidation strength鈥� of 0.95 volts is less than oxygen鈥檚 1.30 volts amount to no more than mindless chemical chatter.聽聽I don鈥檛 buy it.聽聽More importantly, Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration don鈥檛 buy it.聽聽And both urge consumers not to buy any version of Miracle Mineral Supplement.聽聽Not only is there no evidence of efficacy for any condition, there is evidence of possible harm.聽聽Nausea, vomiting, and a life-threatening drop in blood pressure have been reported.聽聽Humble actually maintains that nausea is a good thing because it means the body is eliminating toxins, but if bothered, he suggests it can be controlled 鈥渂y eating cold apple slices that will absorb stomach toxins that have been dumped there.鈥澛燣ike I said, comedic.聽聽But what is decidedly not comedic is the advice on some MMS websites that AIDS patients give up their drugs and resort to intravenous MMS.
MMS is a 28% solution of sodium chlorite in water. It is the presence of sodium, which has nothing to do with the supposed workings of the product, that classifies it as a 鈥渕ineral solution.鈥� Now on to the miracle part. MMS has to be 鈥渁ctivated鈥� by adding citric acid. When you add a strong acid, like hydrochloric, to sodium chlorite, you generate chlorine dioxide gas which is the supposed miracle component. The gas is quite soluble in water so you end up with a solution of chlorine dioxide. A weaker acid, such as citric or acetic, can also generate the gas, but in much smaller amounts. So here is another bit of nonsense. The amount of chlorine dioxide you generate from a sodium chlorite solution using citric acid would be trivial. But that is just the beginning. Chlorine dioxide is an oxidizing agent, as pointed out in the MMS documentation. Indeed the gas can be used to disinfect water and is used in water treatment. Of course you need huge amounts, not a few drops of a solution like Humble suggests. Putting a few drops of a chlorine dioxide solution in your stomach (and remember that the amount of chlorine dioxide is trivial in these drops) does absolutely nothing. The talk about it destroying pathogens in the body is absurd.
Jim Humble went out looking for gold and it seems that at least figuratively he has found it.聽聽But it is fool鈥檚 gold.聽聽MMS is not based on any reasonable science, has not been tested in any sort of randomized trials, and amounts to no more than a scheme to capitalize on the gullibility of the scientifically challenged and the desperate.聽聽Promoting the sale of this product is criminal.
