A MOTHER has defended trying to cure her sons’ autism by feeding them bleach – a treatment that has been slammed as dangerous and ineffective by doctors.
Laurel Austin, from Lenaxa, Missouri, said she began using Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) in an attempt to help her son Jeremy, 28, and his brother Joshua, who suffers with a less severe form of the condition.
MMS is a mix of industrial bleach containing sodium chlorinate and citrus acid diluted in water.
It is touted by some as a cure for HIV, hepatitis, acne, and cancer as well as autism.
Laurel’s ex-husband Brad has called the treatment “snake oil” and said her use of it is akin to “child abuse”.
Explaining her decision, Laurel told Fox4KC: “When you have someone who tears up their arms and screams all the time and can’t speak and they’re trapped in their own body – that’s not normal, and that’s not something they were born with.
“That’s tortuous, and [Jeremy] deserves relief from that.”
Laurel had her sons take MMS for one year from June 2018.
She claims her doctor sign off on the decision, and that her sons’ health and behaviour has improved.
“If I was poisoning them with bleach, wouldn’t their health be getting worse instead of better?” she said.
Brad earlier reported Laurel to the Lenaxa police department, but the action was dropped after blood tests did not show any signs of toxicity.
He said: “This thing claims to cure everything. It’s such a ludicrous idea.
“She’s giving Joshua and Jeremy bleach to try to cure their autism.
“It is akin to child abuse in my opinion. I fear for their health, their safety.”
All four of the children the couple had together have autism, and Brad said he believes the scientific view that the condition is caused by genetics.
But speaking last year, British GP Jeff Foster said that MMS does treat autism or any other condition.
“Autism is a neuro-developmental condition which is not amenable to any form of tablet treatment,” he said.
“It’s developed in the womb or in the early stages of life.
“You just can’t reverse it and anyone claiming that does not understand the condition.
“When you have very extreme measures like this to ‘cure’ a condition it’s just a roulette game.
“Eventually someone will die.
“It’s only a matter of time.”
The dangerous treatment also has its advocates in the UK.
In 2017, a women from Cheshire was investigated by police after administering MMS to her son using an enema.
The woman was reported by autism rights campaigner Emma Dalmayne, who infiltrated a secretive Facebook group set up by parents who believed autism was caused by “parasites”.
The UK’s Food Standards Agency warns that consuming MMS can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, and damage to the gut.
In August 2009, a woman travelling on a yacht to the island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean died after taking MMS as a preventative for malaria.
Sale of the bleach has been banned in Canada after a number of life-threatening episodes.
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