White men are selling industrial bleach to poor Ugandans as a cure for HIV and malaria, an expose revealed. The ring leader of this merry band of mischief is one Robert Baldwin, a 52-year old American "pastor" from New Jersey. His second-in-command is Sam Little, 25, from Arlesey in Bedfordshire. Sam was recently arrested by police in western Uganda on suspicions of "intoxicating the public" after he claimed to have carried out a trial of a “miracle cure” on local villagers using industrial bleach.
The network that Baldwin and Little run is said to be one of the most extensive efforts yet to distribute the “miracle cure” known as MMS (miracle mineral solution). Baldwin imports bulk shipments of sodium chlorite and citric acid, the ingredients of MMS, from China and into Uganda. The two chemicals are then mixed together to produce chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach used in the textile industry.
Under a church ministry called 'Global Healing', that "uses the power of Almighty God to greatly reduce the loss of life in Africa", Baldwin and his disciples administer the chlorine dioxide to up to 50,000 Ugandans, including infants as young as 14 months old claiming the fluid cures cancer, HIV/Aids, malaria and most other diseases. Chlorine dioxide is toxic and has no known health benefit. Most people who buy into this scam are poor and desperate.
Weak regulations
Countries like Uganda are a haven for conmen like Baldwin and Little because they have poor regulations and corruption is also rampant. In the words of Balwin himself, "I chose Uganda because it is a poor country with weak regulation. America and Europe have much stricter laws so you are not as free to treat people because it is so controlled by the FDA. That’s why I work in developing countries.” Baldwin is not yet arrested because he is based in New Jersey.
Header Image Credit: The Independent