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Local Judge Stops Sale of Bleach Marketed as COVID-19 Treatment

A federal judge in South Florida last week ordered a Colombia-based church to stop selling an industrial bleach that it was marketing as a treatment for the novel coronavirus and other illnesses.

Judge Kathleen Williams entered a temporary injunction on Friday which stops Genesis II Church of Health and Healing’s continued sale of Miracle Mineral Solution in the United States.

Genesis sells MMS through its websites, according to a U.S. Justice Department civil complaint that was filed last Thursday in the Southern District of Florida.

According to prosecutors, Genesis markets the solution as a treatment for COVID-19 in addition to Alzheimer’s disease, autism, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

The Food and Drug Administration has previously issued public warnings that MMS can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe dehydration.

The chemical product, chlorine dioxide, becomes a powerful bleach when it is combined with the included activator, officials explain.

“We will zealously pursue perpetrators of fraud schemes seeking to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic,” U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan said in a statement.

The complaint adds that disease-related treatment claims for MMS are unsupported by any well-controlled clinical studies or other credible scientific substantiation.