Speaking Out Against Drinking Bleach

Last updated on: July 28, 2020 at 12:18 pm by Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

Speaking Out Against Drinking Bleach 2020-07-28T12:18:16-04:00 Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

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Unfortunately, many promote drinking bleach (usually called MMS) to cure autism and COVID. All the evidence points to this being ineffective. However, some Catholics have fallen for it and promoted it as something Catholic. I wanted to present why this was wrong and clarify that it was not in accord with Catholic teaching so my fellow autistics did not get confused. I think, unfortunately, when certain Catholics get press for things that sound off and are contrary to Catholic teaching, it dramatically negatively affects our credibility. Thus, I posted an article on Neuroclastic refuting one prominent Catholic promoting this. I include the introduction here but if you are interested, please read the whole article.

I’m an autistic Catholic priest, and I want to protect vulnerable groups from the Catholic representatives advocating for bleach consumption for treating COVID. This is not representative of Catholicism at large.

I imagine that some of you think this is satire. It is not. In Ecuador, a bishop wrote an open letter in the newspaper suggesting that clinical trials investigate bleach as a COVID-19 treatment. Afterward, he doubled-down on this stance, explicitly suggesting the consumption of bleach.

Chlorine Dioxide, often marketed as MMS (Miracle Mineral Supplement), is a form of bleach. No scientific or medical agency recommends treating any disease with bleach.

A Chemistry professor summarizes the findings on bleach to combat disease:

“Not only is there no evidence of efficacy for any condition, there is evidence of possible harm. Nausea, vomiting, and a life-threatening drop in blood pressure have been reported.”

I would think that drinking bleach was self-evidently a bad idea, but unfortunately, it is not.

Bertram Wick, the bishop of Santo Domingo in Ecuador, has repeatedly promoted this dangerous chemical.

I bring this up because, when a bishop promotes such crazy theories, it causes damage to the people who believe him, and it invites the Church to be mocked.

As an autistic Catholic priest, I want not only to refute him scientifically but to point out that his belief is contrary to Catholic teaching.

I also want to help my largely autistic audience understand that the Catholic Church is against pseudoscience miracle cures even if a rare member might promote them and get press for it.

I post this to an autistic page as MMS is, unfortunately, often used to “cure” (but actually cause serious damage to) autistics.

I will look at Wick’s promotion of this, the history of Chlorine Dioxide, and the reasons why we should not promote its use.

The rest is over on Neuroclastic.

Note: This writing is unpaid and I rely on Patreon to keep writing articles like this. If you like this, please consider supporting

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