Fri 15 Oct 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Government drug agency Medsafe and New Zealand's largest HIV positive people's peer support organisation are warning people to avoid a product being sold as a miracle cure for HIV. Image from MMS promotion material Miracle Mineral Solution, or MMS, is marketed throughout the country as a cure for HIV and cancer, and more recently as a water purifier. However, the product's main ingredient, chlorine dioxide, is a "potent bleach used for stripping textiles and industrial water treatment" according to Medsafe. The product's distributors say its popularity has boomed in recent years but Medsafe says it could cause "severe harm to health." Body Positive says they have seen the results of belief in bleach as a cure for HIV. "Unfortunately a young man of African origin believed a solution of Janola would cure him," says BP's head Bruce Kilmister. "All he succeeded in doing was badly burning his throat and stomach linings and he spent weeks in hospital recovering." "Anything other than authorised HIV medications are a waste of money and could put people at death's door," says Kilmister. He is backed up by medical researcher Professor Shaun Holt of Victoria University who observes "you don't need to be a health professional to know it's not healthy to be taking in amounts of bleach." The United States' Food and Drug Administration has also warned against the treatment.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 15th October 2010 - 7:24pm