Drinking Bleach Doesn?t Cure Coronavirus. So Why Do It?

[JohnLanders]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchama.../#6d1635441052

Despite the fact that health authorities and cleaning-product manufacturers warn people that disinfectants shouldn't be ingested, inhaled or injected, many Americans are still drinking bleach. Some are doing it because they believe disinfectants can treat Coronavirus.

In April, Donald Trump wondered out loud about using disinfectant for "injection inside or almost a cleaning" of the body. He later claimed he was being "sarcastic" but even if that's true, the damage had been done: the President of the United States has said that people can inject disinfectant without immediately warning it's dangerous.

By what some would call coincidence, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that accidental poisonings from disinfectants increased by 122% compared to the year before, with a 77% rise in cases related to bleach.

Since then poison control centres across the country have described a spike in citizens phoning for advice after swallowing disinfectant. While many of those cases will be accidental, at least some callers mentioned Covid-19. The public health education manager for the North Texas Poison Center suggested that misinformation through the media and internet could be contributing factors.

In Georgia, state officials said that people are drinking chlorine dioxide, a bleaching agent sometimes marketed as 'Miracle Mineral Solution'. The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly warned that such "treatments" have made consumers sick. The FDA says drinking chlorine dioxide products "can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration."

Sources of Confusion
Bleach is toxic. Drinking it causes harmful side effects such as chemical burns to your internal tissues, which can kill you.

If you're a reasonably intelligent and informed person, the idea of drinking bleach sounds incredibly stupid. But you can't simply call all bleach-drinkers ignorant idiots. At least based on the semantics, it does sort of make sense ? if you follow the twisted logic from the fact that bleach can kill germs and a disinfectant should fight infection.

The word 'disinfectant' is misleading because germs can't actually infect an inanimate surface, only living organisms. That helps explain why many scientists prefer to call such substances by more technically-accurate terms like 'biocidal agents'. Disinfectants such as bleach kill germs on contaminated surfaces, but while 'decontaminant' is a more appropriate word, it's used less often.

There are probably many reasons why certain groups of people wouldn't understand the dangers of disinfectants. Some reasons are related to how health information is presented, although precisely how it's perceived requires some speculation.

If you're someone who does too much 'research' on the internet, you might not properly weigh an activity's costs and benefits. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency has information on emergency disinfection of drinking water saying, "Disinfect water using household bleach, if you can't boil water."

The EPA page give instructions for diluting liquid bleach that rely on testing "If the chlorine taste is too strong." Not only does that involve a subjective assessment, at least for some readers, the take-home message is that something which is safe to taste must also be safe to drink.

Am I overthinking how bleach-drinkers might think? Maybe. But I also don't believe they're entirely responsible for poisoning themselves.

Misinformation spreads rapidly online and social networks don't move fast enough to educate or correct fake news. In particular, the global activism organisation Avaaz has singled-out Facebook as a major threat to public health.

Even though there's no evidence that disinfectants can 'cure' Covid-19, there hasn't been enough thought into why people believe that either. Hopefully more education on potential sources of confusion will stop some from drinking bleach.

Holy shit we are facing bleach drinking as todays "Drink the Kool Aid"

[JohnLanders]

https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia...CZYI3NMJCSFZI/

Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said Monday that the state Department of Public Health has received reports that people are using diluted chlorine dioxide to “treat” COVID-19.

“Chlorine dioxide is a bleach-like cleaning agent and, if ingested, can have severe, adverse health effects, including death,” Kemp’s office said in a press release.

Chlorine dioxide products have not been shown to be safe and effective for any use. The governor’s office said products are being marketed under various names: Aqueous Chlorine Dioxide, CDS, Master Mineral Solution, Miracle Mineral Solution, MSS, Water Purification Solution and others.

Health officials said taking chlorine dioxide products can lead to respiratory failure, fatal abnormal heart rhythms, life-threatening low blood pressure, liver failure, low blood cell counts, and severe vomiting and diarrhea.

Chlorine dioxide is an active ingredient in disinfectants and has additional industrial uses, the DPH said.

The press release urges people to call the Georgia Poison Center Hotline — 1-800-222-1222 — if they or somebody they know ingested it.

President Donald Trump earlier this year was ridiculed for musing about injecting COVID-19 patients with disinfectants. He later said he was being “sarcastic.”

Still, Trump’s comments prompted the distributor of Lysol to issue a press release warning that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).”

In April, after Trump made the remark, two people in Georgia drank liquid cleaning products in misguided attempts to ward off COVID-19, according to the Georgia Poison Center. Both men had histories of psychiatric problems and were expected to recover.

[curiouscat]

Chlorine dioxide sounds like it's intended to be used to clean pools at least that's what we used to use before we got a saltwater pool.
I hope people who drink bleach on purpose, die, because that's less morons using up my oxygen.

[JohnLanders]

Chlorine dioxide sounds like it's intended to be used to clean pools at least that's what we used to use before we got a saltwater pool.
I hope people who drink bleach on purpose, die, because that's less morons using up my oxygen.

At one point Bleach Drinking was used in Uganda by humanitarians to abuse people. Now its used on our side of the oceans.

[JohnLanders]

Here is a History on how Bleach drinking has entered our political debates.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/colomb...rest-1.5684612

Update

Colombian officials say they have arrested two Florida men wanted in the United States on charges they illegally sold a bleach-like chemical as a miracle cure for the new coronavirus and other diseases.

The Colombian prosecutor's office said Tuesday that Mark and Joseph Grennon were arrested in the beach town of Santa Marta, and were shipping their "Miracle Mineral Solution" — chlorine dioxide — from there to clients in the United States, Colombia and Africa.

Mark Grenon is the archbishop of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, based in Bradenton, Fla., which is centred on use of the toxic chemical as a supposed sacrament it claims can cure a vast variety of illnesses ranging from cancer to autism to malaria and now COVID-19.

A Miami federal judge in April ordered the self-styled church to stop selling the substance, but it was ignored.

The organization also has operated in Mexico, Australia and other countries. Despite opposition from doctors and health experts, Bolivia's congress recently legalized use of the substance.

A federal criminal complaint filed in July charged Mark Grenon, 62, and his sons, Jonathan, 34, Jordan, 26, and Joseph, 32, with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and criminal contempt.

Records in Miami federal court last month did not list lawyers for any of the Grenons. They could face 14 or more years in prison if convicted of all charges.

The men have been hawking the substance for several years and promoting it as an antidote to a number of health issues and conditions, including autism. The Fifth Estate found in an investigation in 2016 that it had been sold in Canada despite Health Canada warnings. And a B.C. man two years later was convicted under the Food and Drug Act for marketing, packaging and selling MMS.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the solution sold by the Grenons becomes a bleach when ingested that is typically used for such things as treating textiles, industrial water, pulp and paper.

Authorities said drinking it could be fatal or lead to dangerous side effects such as severe vomiting or diarrhea or life-threatening low blood pressure.


In their announcement of the arrest, the Colombian authorities said that seven Americans had died ingesting the mixture but did not provide a source for that claim. The original release from U.S. officials does not attribute any specific deaths to the men and their company.

The FDA said in a news release last August that "ingesting these products is the same as drinking bleach. Consumers should not use these products, and parents should not give these products to their children for any reason." The FDA has not approved the solution for any health-related uses.

"The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing has actively and deliberately placed consumers at risk with their fraudulent Miracle Mineral Solution and Americans expect and deserve medical treatments that have been scientifically proven to be safe and effective," Catherine Hermsen, assistant commissioner of the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations, said last month in a statement.

'Under no circumstances': Health experts reject Trump's suggestion to inject disinfectant to combat COVID-19
Madagascar ships unproven herbal remedy for COVID-19 to several African nations
The federal complaint says the Grenons initially agreed to abide by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams's order to stop selling the solution, then changed their tone in podcasts and emails to the judge herself.

"We will NOT be participating in any of your UNCONSTITUTIONAL Orders, Summons, etc," one email from Mark Grenon read. "Again and again I have written you all that ... you have NO authority over our Church."

Update Mark Grenon (62) and his family are now facing an investigation for inciting people to drink Bleach.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...-hand-n1235906

This is

If this wasn't real then it would have been a joke in a non pandemic event. except its being done with Politics at play here.

Fifteen adults have been poisoned after drinking hand sanitizer that contained methanol, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

Methanol, or wood alcohol, is a toxic chemical that can lead to hospitalization or death if ingested.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

The Food and Drug Administration first warned of hand sanitizers with possible methanol contamination in June, citing nine products from Mexico. Since then, the list has grown to more than 100. The CDC recommends hand sanitizers that contain either ethanol or isopropanol, which are also alcohols, but not methanol. Hand sanitizer should never be ingested.

The CDC report included 15 cases of methanol poisoning in New Mexico and Arizona that occurred in May and June. The average age was 43, and 13 of the cases were in men. Several of the cases were among American Indians/Alaska Natives, though the report does not detail the exact number. All 15 individuals were hospitalized, and four people died. Another three developed vision problems, a known side effect of methanol poisoning.

All of the cases detailed in the report had had blood tests to confirm the presence of methanol. Additionally, all of the individuals reported past hand sanitizer ingestion.


In one case highlighted in the CDC report, a 44-year-old male sought care after developing vision problems. The man said he had drank an unknown quantity of hand sanitizer in recent days. The man was hospitalized and experienced seizures. He was later discharged with “near-total vision loss,” the report said.

Other individuals sought care because of gastrointestinal or vision problems. Some lost consciousness. One individual sought care because of media reports of methanol-contaminated hand sanitizers.

The report noted that cases of methanol poisoning that occur when someone applies the chemical to skin is rare, though it can occur. Any individuals who have been exposed to hand sanitizers contaminated with methanol should seek medical care immediately if they develop concerning symptoms, the report said.

[JohnLanders]

https://cbsaustin.com/news/coronavir...hand-sanitizer

SAN ANTONIO – New numbers show calls to Texas poison control centers have skyrocketed since the pandemic began: everything from kids licking hand sanitizer to adults asking how much bleach they should drink to kill the coronavirus.

The South Texas Poison Center tucked inside UT Health San Antonio only feels quiet these days. Specialists are working from home, handling more and more calls about hand sanitizer, disinfectants and bleach.

"We attribute that to COVID,” Dr. Shawn Varney says.

He explains products that kill the virus on surfaces will really hurt your insides.

"They will harm you. They will kill cells,” Dr. Varney says.

But expert warnings haven’t stopped everyone from attempting drastic measures. Calls in Texas involving bleach exposures are up more than 58% from last year.

"We have had calls where the person on the other end of the line was inquiring what the proper dose of disinfectant or bleach was to kill the coronavirus,” Dr. Varney says.

"And what was the immediate reaction?" reporter Emily Baucum asks.

"Our immediate response was sir, we don't do that. That is not the right approach,” Dr. Varney says.

He says calls involving household disinfectants are up nearly 161%.

"The more you clean, the more you're exposed. You breathe it in,” Dr. Varney says.

And calls involving hand sanitizer are up 73%.

“Mostly ingestions. And they're mostly in children,” Dr. Varney says.

Small kids tend to use hand sanitizer then lick their fingers, and it doesn’t take much for a child to get alcohol poisoning.

"There's a lot of alcohol - hard alcohol - in these products,” Baucum says.

"Yes. Hand sanitizer is 70% ethanol. That's ethyl alcohol. That's drinking alcohol,” Dr. Varney says.

It’s best to keep cleaning supplies out of the reach of children.

But if you ever need help, call the South Texas Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222. Specialists are available 24/7 in both English and Spanish.

The South Texas Poison Control Center is part of UT Health San Antonio's Department of Emergency Medicine.

By EMILY BAUCUM