Malaria, AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, cancer.  Terrible diseases.  That’s why thousands and thousands of scientists around the world, armed with advanced degrees, are engaged in research projects aimed at finding a cure.
Now, ask yourself this question: what is the chance of a gold prospector, with no training in the health sciences, tackling a problem and finding an answer that has eluded the world’s most renowned researchers?  Furthermore, it’s simple to administer, readily available, and to boot, also destroys the H1N1 virus, clears up acne, eliminates heavy metals and cures the common cold.  I can tell you what probability I would attach to this miracle solution performing as claimed.  Let me see now, how does “zero” sound?
There’s nothing subtle about the name of this purported wonder: “Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS)!”  Well, there are no miracles to be had.  Or minerals.  Admittedly, however, there is a solution.  Not a solution to any problem, but a solution in the sense of a substance being dissolved in water.  And that substance is sodium chlorite, a common disinfectant and bleaching agent.  Its chief promoter, Jim Humble, is either a brilliant inventor, a self-delusional scientifically-bewildered simpleton, or a cunning scoundrel.  Take your pick.  I know which box I would tick off.
In a decidedly non-humble fashion, Humble claims that “this breakthrough can save your life, or the life of a loved one.”  He then brags that his discovery is the answer to AIDS, hepatitis A,B and C, malaria, herpes, TB, most cancers and many more of mankind's worse diseases."  Of course you may not have heard of this revolutionary treatment because it is being hidden from the public by those devilish pharmaceutical companies whose profits would be destroyed if the word got out about all diseases being cured in such a simple fashion.
Let’s just trace how this visionary, this wonder-worker, this mental colossus, discovered the gift “that would shift the course of human health history forever.”  Incidentally, MMS wasn’t this amazing philanthropist’s first gift to humanity.  That was the automatic garage door opener, which humble Humble supposedly invented although I can’t find any documented evidence for this claim.
In any case, the MMS saga begins in the South American jungle where our hero was prospecting for gold when two of his men fell ill with malaria.  With no prospects for immediate medical help, Humble had to resort to his razor-sharp wits.  Actually, I don’t think there was much chance of any cuts being inflicted.  The sodium chlorite solution he had brought along to disinfect water obviously killed bacteria, our champion thought, maybe it would also destroy whatever was causing the malaria.  So, he gave the men some of the solution and was stunned to see their symptoms vanish in just four hours.  I bet he was!
Now Humble had a new calling, rid the world of malaria.  He started to treat sick South Americans but found that the sodium chlorite solution was only effective 70% of the time.  Not good enough for this dazzling mind!  He began to experiment with his concoction and discovered that when mixed with citric acid, the chlorite would be converted to chlorine dioxide, which turned out to be a superior treatment.  Wow!  Before long, Humble claimed to have registered 75,000 successful treatments of malaria with his miracle product.
Strange, but I can’t find any of these spectacular results documented in the scientific literature.  Wouldn’t you think that the discovery of such a simple cure for malaria would merit publication?  Surely a Nobel Prize would be in the offing!  Ah, I know.  It must be those dastardly jealous scientists, or the evil pharmaceutical companies that are preventing publication.  Yup.  Must be.  As a supporter explains, “Humble had become so famous that two drug companies contacted the Minister of Health (in an unnamed country) and threatened to quit shipping drugs to the local hospitals if she didn’t do something about the person claiming to be able to cure malaria.”  Those fiendish companies!  It’s a wonder they have allowed Humble to live.  Actually.  Maybe they haven’t.   Attempts to contact him repeatedly fail.  I’m told he is “travelling” the world, busily helping people.  Helping them lighten their wallets, I suspect.  If you want to know the details of his discovery, that is “how to manufacture it in your own kitchen, how to use it intravenously, how to cure colds in an hour, how to cure the worst of flu in 12 hours, how to treat cancer, AIDS and hundreds of other problems,” you have to buy his book.
I’m not sure how to describe that epic work, but “comedic” comes to mind.  Discussions about how chlorine dioxide “elongates the electron shell” of pathogens, and how its safety is confirmed by the fact that its “oxidation strength” of 0.95 volts is less than oxygen’s 1.30 volts amount to no more than mindless chemical chatter.  I don’t buy it.  More importantly, Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration don’t buy it.  And both urge consumers not to buy any version of Miracle Mineral Supplement.  Not only is there no evidence of efficacy for any condition, there is evidence of possible harm.  Nausea, vomiting, and a life-threatening drop in blood pressure have been reported.  Humble actually maintains that nausea is a good thing because it means the body is eliminating toxins, but if bothered, he suggests it can be controlled “by eating cold apple slices that will absorb stomach toxins that have been dumped there.” Like I said, comedic.  But what is decidedly not comedic is the advice on some MMS websites that AIDS patients give up their drugs and resort to intravenous MMS.
MMS is a 28% solution of sodium chlorite in water. It is the presence of sodium, which has nothing to do with the supposed workings of the product, that classifies it as a “mineral solution.” Now on to the miracle part. MMS has to be “activated” by adding citric acid. When you add a strong acid, like hydrochloric, to sodium chlorite, you generate chlorine dioxide gas which is the supposed miracle component. The gas is quite soluble in water so you end up with a solution of chlorine dioxide. A weaker acid, such as citric or acetic, can also generate the gas, but in much smaller amounts. So here is another bit of nonsense. The amount of chlorine dioxide you generate from a sodium chlorite solution using citric acid would be trivial. But that is just the beginning. Chlorine dioxide is an oxidizing agent, as pointed out in the MMS documentation. Indeed the gas can be used to disinfect water and is used in water treatment. Of course you need huge amounts, not a few drops of a solution like Humble suggests. Putting a few drops of a chlorine dioxide solution in your stomach (and remember that the amount of chlorine dioxide is trivial in these drops) does absolutely nothing. The talk about it destroying pathogens in the body is absurd.
Jim Humble went out looking for gold and it seems that at least figuratively he has found it.  But it is fool’s gold.  MMS is not based on any reasonable science, has not been tested in any sort of randomized trials, and amounts to no more than a scheme to capitalize on the gullibility of the scientifically challenged and the desperate.  Promoting the sale of this product is criminal.
