MMS ( Miracle Mineral Solution) is getting some much needed attention in the skeptic community, as well as the autism community. Created by a man named "Bishop"Jim Humble, who runs his own Genesis Church, it is a potent industrial bleach which when used as recommended by Humble both orally and rectally can cause serious side effects, serious enough that the FDA has issued a strongly worded news release:


FDA NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: July 30, 2010
Media Inquiries: Elaine Gansz Bobo,             301-796-7567      , elaine.bobo@fda.hhs.gov
Consumer Inquiries:             888-INFO-FDA      
FDA Warns Consumers of Serious Harm from Drinking Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS)
Product contains industrial strength bleach
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to take Miracle Mineral Solution, an oral liquid also known as “Miracle Mineral Supplement” or “MMS.”  The product, when used as directed, produces an industrial bleach that can cause serious harm to health.
The FDA has received several reports of health injuries from consumers using this product, including severe nausea, vomiting, and life-threatening low blood pressure from dehydration.
Consumers who have MMS should stop using it immediately and throw it away. 
MMS is distributed on Internet sites and online auctions by multiple independent distributors. Although the products share the MMS name, the look of the labeling may vary.  
The product instructs consumers to mix the 28 percent sodium chlorite solution with an acid such as citrus juice. This mixture produces chlorine dioxide, a potent bleach used for stripping textiles and industrial water treatment. High oral doses of this bleach, such as those recommended in the labeling, can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration. 
MMS claims to treat multiple unrelated diseases, including HIV, hepatitis, the H1N1 flu virus, common colds, acne, cancer, and other conditions. The FDA is not aware of any research that MMS is effective in treating any of these conditions. MMS also poses a significant health risk to consumers who may choose to use this product for self-treatment instead of seeking FDA-approved treatments for these conditions. 
The FDA continues to investigate and may pursue civil or criminal enforcement actions as appropriate to protect the public from this potentially dangerous product. 
The FDA advises consumers who have experienced any negative side effects from MMS to consult a health care professional as soon as possible and to discard the product. Consumers and health care professionals should report adverse events to the FDA’s MedWatch program at             800-FDA-1088       or online atwww.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm.
Yeah, I bolded and made the really relevant part red because it blows my mind to see MMS apologists say it's not a bleach and that it's no big deal. That's bullshit. This is not the FDA overreacting. This is not science bloggers overreacting. This is not over-the-top rhetoric.

Orac covered it several posts*, Emily Willingham wrote about it, Autismum wrote about it several times, Todd Drezner wrote about it, Science Mom really laid down her opinion on parents subjecting their children to this "treatment" and causing vomiting and diarrhea child abuse. iO9 covered it:

"Someone is not only promoting a treatment of bleach enemas to treat autistic children — every two hours, for 72 hours, every possible weekend — but they've started a religious organization to promote this, with 'bishops' and other church officials touting the effectiveness of the Miracle Mineral Solution."

Even parents who are using this product are noting the side effects; it doesn't keep them from doing it to their children, but it's complete bunk to suggest that there's nothing wrong with using this product:

"It's been 3 weeks since I started my son on MMS. I began with 1 drop in the p.m., then a few days later added an a.m. dose of 1 drop. He reacted strongly to this with increased diarrhea, gas, yeast symptoms, and finally vomiting."
Yeah, experimenting on your children with industrial bleach (whether you like it or not, it is industrial bleach--the FDA has said so, but again why would we expect people who excuse using a mining chelator on their children's breakfasts to have an issue with industrial bleach?) is NOT OKAY. Just because you can buy it on the internet and a kindly older gentleman who calls himself a bishop and promises it will cure everything DOESN'T MEAN IT IS SAFE.

It's warranted to be a bit forceful after reading parents posting about how sick it made their children, and yet they keep on DOSING their kids with the stuff, because all that misery means their kids are getting better.

That's crap and reasonable people know that.  Reasonable people are not apologists for MMS or the people who blindly use it. Of course, reasonable people don't dismiss FDA warnings as irrelevant and probably inaccurate.

Reasonable people don't write posts like the one Humble has on his forum, using ad hominem after ad hominem, poisoning the well, and personal attacks, along with appeals to popularity:

If the medical establishment diagnosed my son or daughter with Autism, the only documentary I’d be producing is the one that handed neurotoxic needle-pushing poison peddlers their backsides. I’d then be off to looking under every rock for my child’s cure (because I know they wouldn’t be); and if I found it, I’d produce another documentary that handed them their frontsides. This would be my only mission in life - if my son had Autism.
 ...
 Much unlike Drezner, we will be contacting the parents of the children that have reportedly made significant improvements using MMS, and we are currently collecting case by case clinical data showing MMS does what those singing its praises claim. 
The thought crossed my mind; who’s underwriting Drezner, someone with ties to the FDA or Big Pharma? In a huge effort to not allow myself to be given over to absolute speculation like Drezner, I will wait and report my findings when they become factual.

Yes, because parents who do not opt to use products the FDA has warned against, that other countries have banned, are against helping their children overcome the challenges that their autism presents them. And they totally must be being paid by the FDA and Big Pharma.

I call bullshit.

As BenMC noted on the blog, Arrow Through the Sun, this clip from The Soup is a perfect response:


*
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/05/25/selling-bleach-as-a-cure-for-autism/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/06/11/miracle-mineral-solution-mms-and-autism-apologists-strike-back/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/06/13/will-the-autism-biomes-underground-renounce-using-bleach-to-treat-autism/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/06/12/best-retort-ever/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/06/18/mms-apologists-strike-back/