Rutgers Poison Control Expert Available to Discuss the FDA’s Warning About Miracle Mineral Solution
A Rutgers University poison control expert is available to discuss the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s warning to consumers about Miracle or Master Mineral Solution or other sodium chlorite products, which are not approved by the FDA but are sold online as “treatments.” The FDA has noted reports of severe vomiting and diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure after using these products.
“These substances have potentially high toxicity when ingested and there is no scientific evidence to support their use to cure illness. If you drink concentrated bleach – which is what sodium chlorite solutions become when users follow the instructions and mix with lemon juice or other acids – you can burn your insides and cause a life-threatening injury,” said Diane Calello, executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
Calello notes that products marketed as health supplements or non-FDA approved cures for a variety of diseases can be dangerous, because they are not subject to the regulations required for medications by the FDA. “This means the labels may be inaccurate, the contents may not be correct or may be misleading, and warnings about adverse reactions may be omitted,” she said. “The consumer should beware of any product like this that claims to treat disease without having gone through the formal process of becoming an approved drug.”
Media can reach Diane Calello at [email protected], Bruce Ruck, managing director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School at [email protected], and Lewis Nelson, medical toxicologist and chair of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School at [email protected]. All can be reached by contacting Alicia Gambino at [email protected] or 973-972-9280.
RSS