The radical Genesis II Church, a non-religious American organization promoting “health and healing,” is still encouraging parents to force-feed their kids bleach in an effort to “cure” their autism despite journalistic investigations into the highly dangerous, doctor and FDA-discouraged practice. The latest transgressors hail from the UK, where “at least six police forces across Britain have questioned families over allegations children as young as two were forced to drink bleach and turpentine,” reports The Mirror.
Investigations into the Genesis II Church-sanctioned practice date as far back as 2015 when BBC published an expose on self-proclaimed “reverend” Leon Edwards, who was caught selling sodium chlorite and hydrochloric acid to a reporter passing himself off as a relative of a child with autism and had ties to Genesis II Church founder Jim Humble.
In 2016, ABC News published an investigative report into the Genesis II Church after an undercover Eyewitness News producer was “excommunicated” following an infiltration of a Costa Mesa seminar. In speaking with Jim Humble, reporters gathered that Genesis II Church leaders purport that the bleach concoction, which they call a Miracle Mineral Solution, or MMS, “can cure virtually anything – from the common cold to cancer, autism and HIV.”
The MMS consists of sodium chlorite and hydrochloric acid and is being used both orally and as an enema. In his correspondence with BBC investigators, Leon Edwards reported using it himself: “I put it in my eyes, my nose, my ears, bathe in it, drunk it, breathed it in my lungs. I got injected in my butt with it.”
While church leaders and followers claim the MMS is a harmless religious sacrament, doctors warn that it is highly dangerous and has been linked to one death and several other reported health problems.
Current science suggests autism is not something that can be “cured” through a miracle potion as it is a neurodevelopmental malady that likely stems from genetic patterns and medical conditions that make some people prone to the disorder. Of the church’s so-called miracle solution, Newsweek reports one expert, Dr. Jeff Foster, insisted:
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disease which is not amenable to any form of tablet treatment. It’s developed in the womb or early stages of life. You can’t just reverse it, and anyone claiming that does not understand the condition.
When you have very extreme measures like this to ‘cure’ a condition, it’s just a roulette game.
Eventually someone will die. It’s only a matter of time.
As a parent of a child with disabilities, I can understand the desperation involved in trying to find medical interventions to alleviate some of the stress and pain associated with a child’s condition. What I can’t understand, however, is how anyone could believe feeding their child bleach — BLEACH — is a good idea.
Anyone who’s ever cleaned with bleach knows just how potent the chemicals are. One undiluted droplet of the solution on an article of clothing nearly destroys it. Imagine, then, what it does to the human body.
I’m no scientist, but I have enough sense to listen to those who are and stay far away from any “cure” that involves frying my innards or those of a loved one in some misguided attempt to “fix” what ails them. And in the event that there is anyone reading who isn’t, let me state it plainly one more time for the record: DON’T FORCE-FEED YOUR KIDS BLEACH.
Or put it up their butts. Please, God, don’t put anything not specifically labeled for butt use up anyone’s butt. Ever.