Wham, Bam, Autism Scams - The bad actors and bad science behind the most egregious claims about the causes and cure for Autism
Bronwyn Rideout - 18 September 2023
Part 1 - Miracle Mineral Cure
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that impacts behaviour, communication, and socialisation. The exact cause of Autism is unknown, and there is no single gene that is Autisticassociated with the condition. Almost 200 genes can increase the likelihood of Autism due to mutation or possible epigenetic causes. Autism presentation varies widely, and that ranges from Autistics who live independent lives with minimal support to Autistics who require significant support with communication and day-to-day living. It is not unusual for an Autistic to move along that spectrum depending on what emotional, societal, economic, or health pressures are placed on them.
Many Autism charities have raised millions to fund research to find a cure, and in consequence the research to improve education, employment, and quality of life for Autistics is decades behind what it should be. It hasn’t helped that charities like Autism Speaks have stoked fear in the hearts of parents and parents-to-be about the threat Autism was to their families and livelihoods.
The livelihood bit, well, has a bit of truth to it. In the United States, where a lot of the shenanigans I will write about seems to have taken root, Autism therapies can cost between $17,000 and $47,500 depending on the type of therapies used. Applied Behaviour Analysis, a controversial Autism therapy, can cost $120/hour, even up to $4,800 per week without insurance. While most insurance plans will cover various Autism therapies, not everyone in the US has medical insurance. With traditional therapies threatening to bankrupt already struggling families, parents are understandably desperate to find those so-called miracle cures.
For this issue of the newsletter, and several more, I’m going to write about the various scams, bogus products, and fraudsters that prey on the naivety and desperation of parents, caregivers, and Autistics themselves. While many might expect that Andrew Wakefield would be the ideal place to start, I wanted to kick things off with something that has a New Zealand connection: Miracle Mineral Supplement/Solution.
Chemicals to make MMS
Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) is the commercial name for an aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide promoted and sold by Jim Humble and the (non-religious) Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. Made from a mixture of sodium chlorite and an acid (i.e. vinegar or citirus), MMS is essentially a bleaching agent that can do a hell of a number on your internals by causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, and destroying your intestinal lining. Originally touted as a malaria treatment, it has also been claimed as an effective treatment against cancer, HIV, Ebola, Autism, and Covid-19. On the official NZ page, the proprietors take an interesting approach to sidestep media and Medsafe complaints about advertising and product safety.
_“Dear customers;
Apparently New Zealand law restricts the advertising of certain products known to demonstrate therapeutic benefits.
See letter from Medsafe NZ.
Therefore, regardless of the many thousands of success stories worldwide, and recommendations that you may have heard from family and friends; this website cannot and will not make any public claims that MMS ‘treats’ or ‘cures’ serious diseases or conditions; such as asthma, diabetes, autism, heart disease, arthritis, HIV, AIDS, cancer, leukaemia, malaria, hepatitis A, B and C, herpes, TB, lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, sarcoidosis, scabies, candida, bronchitis, CHD, COPD, MRSA, crohn’s disease, colds, sore throats, dementia, dengue fever, eczema, swine flu, allergies, acne, gum problems and many others.”_
As we often see with grifts like this, no legitimate clinical trials have been conducted - but that hasn’t stopped people from buying or selling the product.
So, who is the man, and the organisation, that hawks MMS with such a fervour (or gall)?
Not much is known about Jim Humble outside of him being a former scientologist and gold prospector; even his memoir about the creation of MMS is light on the personal details, except that he has/had a son, and lived in Nevada. He’s also not above making other claims like being a billion-year-old god from the Andromeda Galaxy, helping develop the atomic bomb, developing the first computer, and that he was part of the first Apollo missions. As for his scientology membership, the name Jim Humble is listed in Scientology journals between 1968 and 1984, but this person is said to have fallen afoul of the church after the death of L. Ron. Hubbard.
Jim Humble
Humble was on a gold mining expedition in Guyana in 1996 when some of his crew became sick with malaria. Using a product on them that he had brought from the US called stabilised oxygen, Humble was surprised by its effectiveness and started to market it to locals. Local legal troubles were immediate, and Humble decided to hide in the jungle for a bit while he continued prospecting for gold - before that too fell apart, due to his associations with unscrupulous people. On his return to the US, Humble was able to market his product in Africa through various connections. One of these connections was a Reno businessman that Humble gave the pseudonym of Arnold. While Humble did not think of Arnold as a bad guy, Arnold is presented as a man with more money than sense, continuously hiring people who were incompetent at their jobs. It never crossed Humble’s mind to question Arnold’s actual intentions. Arnold and Humble established the Malaria Solution Foundation, and made connections with the Faith Christian Fellowship International. The mission agreed to send Humble to Kenya and Uganda in 2004, in return for receiving a donation of $200,000 worth of MMS (then called OS-82). Humble trained missionaries to administer MMS, and it is suspected that thousands, including children, received MMS for Malaria during Humble’s time in both countries, where he essentially conducted an unethical clinical trial. The connection between MMS and christian missions also continues to the present day.
Any mention of MMS in the media is usually followed by reference to the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. Who actually started this church is unclear, although Humble is listed as the founder.
A 2021 article by Bloomberg framed Mark Grenon as the leader of the church, if not its founder. Grenon had moved his family to the Dominican Republic in 1993, and had gradually acquired a large compound and 50 acres of farmland. In the mid-2000s, the Grenons fell ill with MRSA that was not responding to treatments provided by local doctors. Mark ordered a batch of MMS, which worked immediately, and led Grenon to contact Humble. Humble is said to have moved in with the family by 2010.
Mark Grenon
Aware that a traditional business structure would be risky (and taking a page out of L. Ron Hubbard’s playbook), Grenon and Humble deliberately decided to present their operations as a church, and MMS as a sacrament/ceremonial drink; this would protect the product from consumer protection laws. They also leaned into the religious side, by referring to key leaders as Archbishops and promoting that one of the benefits of the church was protection from unwanted vaccinations and/or x-rays. Over the next five years, the duo shifted operations from their kitchen table in the Dominican Republic to a proper warehouse. They also began travelling the world to host two-day seminars and ordain people to manufacture and sell MMS, particularly targeting developing countries with weak or no regulatory organisations.
One of these Archbishops is a New Zealander named Roger Blake, a former mechanical engineer and owner of the Ngatea Water Gardens Function Centre. Blake hosted Humble in 2014 for a weekend-seminar, with tickets selling for $646. Blake, who had numerous aliases like The Living Man and Minister of God’s Word, claimed to have sold thousands of bottles of MMS without incident, and had made claims attesting to the ability of MMS to cure cancer. At the time, the disease du jour that Humble was claiming to cure was Ebola, which was spreading in Africa.
Roger Blake
In 2016, Humble stumbled considerably during an interview with ABCNews and, days after, claimed that MMS cured nothing. By 2017, Humble retired and handed leadership to Grenon fully.
MMS has been on the radar of health professionals in New Zealand and police worldwide since 2009/2010. Medsafe published the first of its own warnings about MMS in 2010, advising that it was being sold to the public not as a medicine but as a mineral supplement or a water purification product, which allowed it to avoid some major safeguards to get it into the hands of consumers. Medsafe would publish repeat reminders in 2015 and 2020, and again in 2022 when someone landed themselves in ICU trying to treat a case of Covid. Reports of deaths and significant injuries attributed to MMS have also made headlines since the beginning of the Genesis II organisation, including the 2010 death of a US woman off the coast of Vanuatu. Ironically, much of the evidence was posted by supporters who posted pictures of chemical burns and other injuries, asking if it was a sign that the treatment was working. In 2019, the US Federal Drug Administration reported that there were more than 16,000 cases of chlorine dioxide poisoning in the previous five years, with 2,500 involving children.
Autistic children are reported to have been forced by parents to ingest MMS, have MMS enemas, or bathe in the substance. Some children were receiving 16 oral doses, or 6 enemas, of this horribly corrosive product each day. Protests from many sectors of the Autism community - academics, parents, and Autistics alike - about the bogus claims of MMS to treat Autism were constant, and made headlines frequently. But, it seems like it took the pandemic to really get the attention of governments worldwide.
In April 2020, President Donald Trump’s careless comments about the use of disinfectants to treat coronavirus led to a significant jump in reports of people being poisoned due to exposure and intake of household disinfectants. While articles appeared warning people to not drink bleach specifically, the Genesis II church quickly got on that bandwagon and were subsequently issued a warning by the FDA. In May of that year, Genesis II was prohibited from labelling, holding, or distributing MMS, and while the church complied with discontinuing online sales, they continued to move MMS under the table. Mark Grenon also went public with threats to harm the judge issuing the order, and to instigate a Waco.
On July 8th, the Genesis II headquarters in Florida was raided, and several members of the Grenon family, including Mark and a couple of his sons, were arrested. 50 gallons of hydrochloric acid and 8,300 pounds of sodium chlorite were seized.
Grenon and his son after the raid
On July 15th, 2020, 5 days after the Grenon household was raided, so were two properties associated with Roger Blake and his business, NZ Water Purifier Ltd. Police seized chemicals, business records, and a computer said to contain customer records. The raid was carried out under the Medicines Act, on the grounds that Blake had breached the act for selling, distributing, and advertising new medications without consent. Blake would launch a judicial review against the Police, Medsafe, The Thames District Court, and nine other people in November 2020. His appeal to halt his case was declined on November 17th, 2022. Blake continued to fight his case in 2023 by refusing to engage with the proceedings, failing to show up to court, and trespassing anyone who tried to serve him documents. In June 2023, Blake did appear in court in person, but was eventually thrown out for poor conduct by referring to the judge only by his first name, and claiming that he was not, in fact, Mr. Blake.
The trial, it appears, is still ongoing.
What will happen to Genesis II and its many archbishops is unknown. Grenon and his sons, who would have been the most likely heir apparents, are awaiting the churn of the wheels of justice. As for Humble, the most recent reports place him in Mexico. There, he lies just beyond the reach of the US justice system, and there is no indication that he is ready to return to lead Genesis II through this time of great upheaval.
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