As a result of skeptic bloggers, Kenyans are now being warned about the man treating sick people with "industrial bleach"

A few days ago I wrote about Jim Humble and his product Miracle Mineral Solutions, described by the FDA as "industrial bleach" ("The man who encourages the sick and dying to drink industrial bleach"). MMS was brought to wider attention by the work of 15-year-old Rhys Morgan, and its use in the developing world to treat patients with cancer, Aids and malaria was investigated by the blogger 'Noodlemaz'.

Since then I'm thrilled to report that journalists in Kenya have picked up the story, exposing Humble and his dangerous "drug" in The Daily Nation, a top newspaper in the region ("Malaria 'drug' endangers Kenyan lives"):

"The lives of thousands of Kenyans could be in danger from an untested and unregistered malaria drug recently exposed as industrial bleach. "Reports on Wednesday in the UK's Guardian newspaper said Kenyans were among about 100,000 malaria patients treated with the Miracle Mineral Supplement in several African countries, including Uganda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Malawi."

Journalists at the Nation brought the matter to the attention of the Health Ministry, who have now warned Kenyans against using the product:

"On Thursday, the head of the malaria control division in the Health ministry, Dr Elizabeth Juma, said sodium chlorite was bleach and should not be used as medicine."

Sadly, it turns out that the product is still being sold in the country, with the St James Ematsayi Clinic in Kakamega a major distribution hub:

"Bishop Javan Ommani, in charge of the Christian mission, confirmed having the product. 'We still have a lot of stocks and can send you as much as you want,' he said."

So there is much work to be done, and I plan to chase up the Health Ministry and local authorities where possible in the near future. Still, Rhys, Noodlemaz and skeptic bloggers who helped to dig out the truth about Jim Humble and his "miracle cure" should be immensely proud. Thanks to one inquisitive schoolboy in Wales, health authorities in Africa have been alerted to a real menace in their country. It's a powerful demonstration of what citizen journalism can achieve.

Update:

The Nation has followed up its mid-week reporting with an editorial in the Sunday paper. It throws more attention on the activities of the Kakamega-based church at the heart of distribution in Kenya, who claim to have treated more than 10,000 Kenyans since 2004. The paper suggests that the product hasn't been registered with officials in Nairobi (a process which requires data from clinical trials), making the treatment technically illegal. It goes on to criticise medical regulatory authorities in the country for perceived impotence in the face of dodgy medicines:

"... most puzzling is why the government is so impotent when it comes to taking action against people who break the law. The only thing the medical regulatory authorities have done is to issue regular threats of legal action, which almost always go unheeded. With this kind of inept policing, it is little wonder that the country is a haven for fake, substandard, counterfeit and even demonstrably dangerous medicines."

It's a subject I'll be returning to soon.