Reactie Food and Drug Administration
We spraken Elaine Gansz Bobo, woordvoerder van de Food and Drug Administration (FDA), de Amerikaanse Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, over het middel MMS en de maatregelen ertegen. Hier ziet u de vragen en antwoorden, in het Engels.
Could you let me know what the product warning is for and what the warning entails?
The product warning on MMS or Miracle Mineral Solution is basicly that by using the product as directed it produces an industrial bleach and that causes serious harm to health. So FDA is trying to warn consumers not to take the product.And what has lead the FDA to issue this warning?
FDA issued the warning cause we were doing routine-internet search for fraudulent H1N1-products. And in doing this we came accross MMS that claimed to treat swine flu and a whole host of other serious diseases. We also looked at FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting System which is a big word for side-effects and bad events that happen when people take in drugs and it described consumers that suffered injuries associated with MMS.And what is your main concern with the product?
Our main concern is that if you follow the directions, if you take the product as directed, it will product this bleach that causes harm. So high oral dosis of the chemical chlorine dioxide can cause nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and symptoms of severe dehydration. Things nobody wants to mess with. What do you think of the long term effects?
We are still conducting research. So we don't know any long term effects.And on the basis of what research have you come to this warning?
Actually FDA does not conduct research itself. At FDA we had an expert medical officer perform an extensive evaluation of the reported adverse event information, the scientific and medical literature, and looked at the products' labeling to determine the health hazards and possible adverse health effects that went along with it.And on the basis of that you concluded that these adverse-effects were so severe, that a warning was necessary?
We absolutely decided that after this evalution of the MMS product, that this product should come off the market and we should warn consumers about it.
The product claims to cure a variety of diseases. Has the FDA researched if any of these claims are true? In other words, does the FDA think that consumers are misled in buying the product?
I’m glad you brought up that point. We absolutely feel that the claims that are made by MMS to treat this wide variety of diseases are very misleading. Some of the things that we have seen that MMS is claiming to treat are things like HIV, Hepatitis, the H1N1 flu virus and cancer. So we are very concerned that people who are taking MMS for these conditions aren't going to be getting any sort of effective treatment and may not be seeking the professional treatment that they should be.So do you think Dutch government should warn about this product as well?
The FDA can only issue warnings for people here in the US. However, based on what we have seen we certainly encourage other governments to look into this product as well. We have not seen any research that MMS is effective in treating any of the conditions it claims plus it does have a high incidence for harm.
(De Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit heeft alvast een officiële waarschuwing op haar site gezet.)