DETROIT – The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about dangerous products claiming to treat coronavirus (COVID-19).
The “Miracle Mineral Solution” products are made with chlorine dioxide.
Recommended Videos
The FDA has warned consumers not to buy or use such products because there is no scientific evidence backing claims that they are cures to health issues, and they can be dangerous.
For instance, last year the FDA put out a warning that some distributors have claimed that, when mixed with citric acid, the solution is antimicrobial, antiviral and antibacterial.
Adding acid to the liquid is dangerous, though, the FDA said, and creates chlorine dioxide, a bleaching agent. Sodium chlorite and chlorine dioxide are active ingredients in disinfectants.
MORE: FDA -- Solution touted on social media as treatment for autism, AIDS, cancer is bleach
“Despite previous warnings, the FDA is concerned that we are still seeing chlorine dioxide products being sold with misleading claims that they are safe and effective for the treatment of diseases, now including COVID-19. The sale of these products can jeopardize a person’s health and delay proper medical treatment,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn.
The FDA issued a joint warning letter with the Federal Trade Commission to the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing for selling chlorine dioxide products that it fraudulently claims can treat or prevent COVID-19
According to the FDA, it has reports that people who have drank such solutions have experiences adverse reactions, including:
- Respiratory failure caused by a serious condition where the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream is greatly reduced (methemoglobinemia)
- Changes in the electrical activity of the heart (QT prolongation), which may lead to potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythms
- Life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration
- Acute liver failure
- Low blood cell counts, due to the destruction of red blood cells faster than the body can make it (hemolytic anemia), which required a blood transfusion
- Severe vomiting
- Severe diarrhea
The FDA encourages health care professionals and consumers to report adverse events or quality problems experienced with the use of COVID-19 products to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program.