Someone with what I can only describe as a messiah complex* is travelling the world parting the unwell from their money, and on some occasions from this world (a terribly sad tale which I read on @alicebell's blog).
*According to Wikipedia this term isn't in the DSM - perhaps they'll make an exception ;-)
Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) is a form of industrial bleach which is being sold as a preparation that is drunk in order to restore or maintain health. After considerable effort by skeptics and scientists no-one has found any evidence that suggests that this is a good idea, and plenty that suggests that it isn't.
There is literally nothing that I can think of that could be said in favour of drinking (swallowing) bleach. It's vastly wrong to conclude that just because one can use bleach to wipe down and disinfect surfaces then drinking it will have a similar effect in the body.
MMS appeared on my radar after I saw a tweet from @rhysmorgan highlighting his suspicions about the product.
He's a young man who sought advice and support from a Crohn's forum and noted with concern that MMS was being touted as something that might help. His investigations and swathes of evidence showing it was dangerous bunk ultimately led to his suspension from the forum for pointing this out. It was pretty startling.
Within about half an hour of seeing his tweet and watching his video I'd half-jokingly named it #bleachgate and was delighted to see the topic trending on Twitter. More recently it got a mention in the Guardian thanks to @mjrobbins writing about it.
Alice's post has reminded me of @paulbradshaw's cunning suggestion that we all write blog posts and link to the Guardian piece with the word's Miracle Mineral Solution. I am only too happy to help. For good measure I'm linking to the words Miracle Mineral SolutionS and MMS too.
@noodlemaz has also written a series of posts on the topic: Link roundup: Bleachgate Bleachgate link roundup: 2nd and last #Bleachgate: the plot thickens
@penguingalaxy wrote a post unpicking the chemistry of bleach and chlorine
Friday 17 September 2010
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Comment policy: I enthusiastically welcome corrections and I entertain polite disagreement ;) Because of the nature of this blog it attracts a LOT - 5 a day at the moment - of spam comments (I write about spam practices,misleading marketing and unevidenced quackery) and so I'm more likely to post a pasted version of your comment, removing any hyperlinks.
Comments written in ALL CAPS LOCK will be deleted and I won't publish any pro-homeopathy comments, that ship has sailed I'm afraid (it's nonsense).