In a disorienting world, it can be tempting to trust information on the internet that appears to be in your best interest. Of course, anyone is free to do anything they want as long as they don’t cause harm to others, but they should also at least try to ensure that they don’t cause harm to themselves at the same time.
There is abundant information on the internet about the apparent benefits of taking products based on chlorine dioxide as a miraculous and cheap way to destroy viruses in the body. President Trump of the USA, among others, has famously promoted these “treatments”. The problem is that according to medical experts these substances are unproven and in some cases deadly when ingested.
It is clear to any observer that the pharmaceutical industry for the most part is a cesspit of financial self-interest, and no one would be at all surprised if Big Pharma were supressing results about cheap coronavirus treatments in order to make billions from a vaccine, but this cynicism shouldn’t extend to the medical profession as a whole. Colombian doctor, Manuel Elkin Patarroyo famously donated his patent for a partial vaccine for Malaria to the World Health Organisation in 1986, for instance.
Yet despite the positive examples, a population increasingly sceptical of what the medical experts say feel more and more disorientated about the current situation. Ever since the coronavirus pandemic erupted in the UK, the government has been always able to find a doctor who will say, “it’s ok, we don’t need to lockdown,” “it’s ok, we don’t need to wear masks,” “it’s ok we can reopen schools,” etc., while more responsible medical professionals online and in the newspapers throw their hands up in despair. The positioning of the economy (i.e. money) before human life has been breath-taking in its callousness.
In this situation, in which the population is basically abandoned to look after itself, it is both important and urgent that we are thoroughly informed about the things we put in our bodies.
To this end, it is worth citing here the US Food and Drug Administration who say about chlorine dioxide products:
Some distributors are making false—and dangerous—claims that [chlorine products] with citric acid is an antimicrobial, antiviral, and antibacterial liquid that is a remedy for autism, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, flu, and other conditions. But the FDA is not aware of any research showing that these products are safe or effective for treating any illness. Using these products may cause you to delay other treatments that have been shown to be safe and effective.
The bottom line: Sodium chlorite products are dangerous, and you and your family should not use them.
Drinking any of these chlorine dioxide products can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration. Some product labels claim that vomiting and diarrhea are common after ingesting the product. They even maintain that such reactions are evidence that the product is working. That claim is false.
Moreover, in general, the more concentrated the product, the more severe the reactions. The FDA has received reports of consumers who have suffered from severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure after drinking these products. If you have had a negative reaction to any of them, consult a health care professional as soon as possible.
Medical science isn’t currently able to cure all illnesses in all people, and its methods and procedures do not give 100% yes/no answers to whether one drug will or will not cure you. Human beings are complicated biological machines, we have different blood types, different DNA, differences that mean that there can never be more than a statistical probability that a treatment will work in an individual. And of course, doctors have nothing to say about how one’s mental state affects recovery outcomes, they have no way to measure mental wellbeing in their medical trials, which can be a determining factor in someone’s recovery. It may be that someone has been taking something and simultaneously recovered from coronavirus, it doesn’t mean that that was the cure, or indeed that it didn’t cause damage elsewhere in his body.
So, if you feel like unrecommended treatments are worth taking a risk on, go ahead, it’s your body, but make sure you have satisfied yourself through multiple, reliable sources that this really is something that has a chance of doing you some good.
And remember, you may not be harming other people physically, but you sure as hell will be harming them mentally if your actions result in you poisoning yourself.
