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Laurel Austin has documented the first dose of chlorine dioxide from her son Jeremy on YouTube. In the 30-second video, broadcast to 4,465 subscribers, Jeremy, 27, sits at a kitchen table while his mother recounts his mood. Then his arms seem to twist involuntarily around one another and he screams in his forearm before taking a bite of banana.
"It's to hope and pray," she says.
Austin, 51, is a photographer in Lenexa, Kansas, the mother of six children, including four adults with autism. According to her publications on Facebook, she has tried almost all of the "remedies" online for autism – a developmental disorder that has no known cure – including treatments for intoxication by heavy metals, hormonal treatments used in chemical castration and "natural" remedies such as coriander and seaweed.
For the past year, according to her social media posts and police investigation documents, Laurel Austin has donated chlorine dioxide to two of her adult sons, Jeremy and Joshua. The Food and Drug Administration warns that bleach is a solution and that doctors claim that it can be harmful to health when it is ingested, especially for the digestive system and the kidneys.
Joshua, 28, is talkative and likes "The Simpsons" and playing retro games on Nintendo, while Jeremy, 27, does not talk and can rage in which he bites his arms, according to their father, Bradley Austin, who provided police investigation records to NBC News. Joshua and Jeremy live with Laurel Austin, their court-appointed guardian, who makes medical and other decisions for them. Jeremy lived in a group home until his mother took him to try chlorine dioxide, according to his father.
Since January, when Bradley Austin learned that his ex-wife was using chlorine dioxide for their sons, he tries to stop him. (He is also exploring the possibility of fighting for the guardianship of his sons.) But the local police, the state division for adult protection services, and attending physician Jeremy all refused to intervene. A police spokesman said that there was not enough evidence that chlorine dioxide was dangerous; A social worker in the Kansas Adult Protection Services told the police that she did not consider the situation serious enough for the state to take action.
The Austins case illustrates just how ubiquitous online misinformation can become as it begins to weigh not only on the fringe in search of alternative treatments and explanations, but also on authorities, including doctors and the police, who are charged with protecting the population. the most vulnerable.
"Health misinformation has begun to seep further," said Dr. Brittany Seymour, assistant professor in the faculty of dentistry at Harvard University, who studies online misinformation on health. "Historically, we relied on the authority of paid scientific articles and there were naturally limiting factors that prevented the spread of misinformation, such as geography and communication barriers. With the Internet and social media, these barriers have been removed. "
Seymour explained that these obstacles prevented misinformation from reaching a dangerous level.
"Voices sharing and spreading disinformation are still weak, but we know that it only takes a few now and that it can spread far. So the number may be small, but the impact is not. "
The Kansas authorities' lack of responsiveness has baffled Bradley Austin, who feels he is no longer able to protect his sons from their mother's "treatment."
"I just want her to stop," he told NBC News.
It is not known if the bleach has caused any injury to the wires. Bradley Austin told the police that Joshua's blood tests in January revealed no abnormalities. In a video posted on YouTube, Laurel Austin said that Jeremy had refused to be tested.
Laurel Austin declined to be interviewed, but responded to e-mail questions that NBC News was "used as a shameful tool with incorrect information provided by an absent father to reduce or even eliminate his child support obligation towards his autistic sons with special needs ".
Bradley Austin denied this characterization. Last year, Austines decided by a court to renegotiate child support, but Bradley Austin said it was not related to his concerns about his ex-wife's use of chlorine dioxide.
When asked additional questions, Laurel Austin replied, "I have nothing more to add."
Misinformation spreads
The chlorine dioxide that Laurel Austin gives to his sons is obtained by mixing a solution of sodium chlorite with an acid activator, both available online at a price of about $ 20. The solution was first introduced nearly two decades ago by a former Scientologist, Jim Humble, under the name "Miracle Mineral Solution", or MMS, and sold as a treatment for AIDS, cancer and almost all other diseases known to mankind.
Doctors say that the only effects of chlorine dioxide are harmful, warning that it can damage the tissues of the digestive system, disrupt the functioning of red blood cells and cause kidney failure.
Kerri Rivera, a former Chicago real estate agent who is not a doctor, is interested in the so-called cure and suggests it to parents of autistic children by 2012, writing a book, participating in seminars and on YouTube channels. Popular plot theorists at a time when autism diagnoses were skyrocketing. Rivera declined to comment.
Even though the FDA had issued warnings on chlorine dioxide – claiming it could cause "severe nausea, vomiting and deadly blood pressure related to dehydration" – and that the Justice Department had pursued In court several sellers who had sold this chemical as a miracle cure, the promoters, including that of Rivera, were built. online monitoring.
Rivera claims to have sold tens of thousands of copies of his book describing the chlorine dioxide protocol before Amazon banned the title in April. Facebook and YouTube have followed suit by removing accounts and videos promoting chlorine dioxide from thousands of subscribers and millions of viewings after being pressured by lawmakers and public health advocates to take action. They take responsibility for spreading misinformation about health on their platforms.
According to the experts, this containment is effective to fight against the erroneous information on the anti-vaccines and the false curative treatments. It is particularly important in the event of a health crisis, such as the current resurgence of measles at the national level. But true believers – including some parents who desperately seek a cure for their autistic children – will always find a way to access false information.
"Moderation of content can really help limit the information that influences the decisions people make," said Nat Gyenes, program manager of the social technology company Meedan, who is also studying technology and health at the Berkman Klein Center. for Harvard Internet & Society. "But at the same time, people who want or are determined to look for other erroneous information will find it on the Internet."
Laurel Austin is so determined. In her spare time, she explores conspiracy theories, coanime or appears in radio programs and anti-vaccination videos – many with Rivera herself. According to his publications on social media, Austin is also a "flat companion" and attends annual conferences with other enthusiasts of the unscientific idea that the world is not a globe.
The anatomy of an investigation
Joshua was visiting his father all night in January when his mother-in-law, Kerrie Austin, a retired nurse, opened the bottle his mother had sent and ordered him to have a drink full of solution every two hours, from 7 am to 9 pm
The smell of chlorine "has almost knocked me down," said Kerrie Austin.
Bradley Austin called the poison control center, then took the solution to the police department of Lenexa and Joshua to the hospital for blood tests, which returned normal. In the police investigation notes Bradley Austin told NBC News and confirmed by a police spokesman, the Lenexa police officer wrote that he "could smell the overwhelming smell of bleach. ". Another officer wrote that the bottle was "degassed". "" The gassing smelled of chlorine and was very powerful. "
As part of their investigation, a police officer called the poison control center in Kansas and spoke with a pharmacist. The latter stated that he knew the chlorine dioxide solution and had informed the agent that it was dangerous to consume, according to the survey notes.
This awareness probably came from experience. In the last five years, poison centers have treated 16,521 cases of chlorine dioxide across the country, according to data provided by the American Association of Poison Centers. At least 50 of the cases were considered life threatening and eight people died. The number of cases involving people with autism is unclear.
According to the interview notes, after talking to Bradley Austin, officers went to Laurel Austin's home. She told police that she was following Rivera's Chlorine Dioxide Protocol and that she had noticed an improvement in her sons' behavior since she started giving them the solution. The police observed Joshua and Jeremy and determined that they seemed to be happy and healthy and that no one seemed to be suffering.
Laurel Austin has shown the police online articles on chlorine dioxide, including one of the Autism Research Institute, one of the first most virulent organizations to argue discredited theory according to which vaccines are at the origin of autism. According to the 2015 article, the solution had the potential to heal, but it was finally discouraged, according to the survey notes. "This justifies Laurel's assertion that she would have used the CLO2 MMS as a holistic approach to treatment," the officer wrote. Laurel Austin then contacted the agent by sending a link to a Rivera YouTube video explaining the chlorine dioxide protocol.
According to the notes, the police were also convinced by a document entitled "Jeremy Austin's Daily Additions List". One line of the document reads as follows: "Chlorine dioxide MMS (CD / MMS) drops 16 doses per day every hour." The List Dr. Sarita Singh, a primary physician at the MedWest Family Practice Clinic at the University of Kansas, has affixed his stamp and signature.
The agents spoke to Singh, who confirmed that she had approved the list of supplements, including chlorine dioxide. After a follow-up visit with Laurel Austin and Joshua, Singh sent a letter to the police stating that chlorine dioxide was "benign and nontoxic," according to the survey's notes.
Singh is currently on maternity leave and has not responded to requests for comment. Jill Chadwick, director of media relations for the health system at the University of Kansas, who oversees Singh's practice, cited the privacy laws in an email refusing to comment.
"But even if you called the mother and asked her to sign a waiver allowing us to speak," Chadwick wrote, "we have nothing to add to this story yet."
In a video posted on YouTube in March, Laurel explained that she had found doctors willing to sign the protocol on chlorine dioxide. "In fact, I found several doctors. Simply by visiting the website of the Institute for Functional Medicine and you put in your area, and they can bring in doctors that you did not even know that there was.
The Institute for Functional Medicine is a professional association focused on alternative medicine, which it describes as "an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that allows patients and practitioners to work together." to tackle the underlying causes of the disease and promote optimal wellness. "It operates as a non-profit organization and generated $ 16 million in revenue in 2017.
Doctors have criticized the promotion of vitamins, probiotics and the parasite in the treatment of various diseases without scientific proof of their effectiveness. The founder of the institute rejected the medical consensus claiming that autism is caused by toxins present in the environment and that it can be cured by changes in the environment. diet and nutritional supplements.
"The IFM does not support the use of chlorine dioxide and does not include this biochemistry in our programs," said Amy Mack, CEO of the Institute for Functional Medicine, in an email to NBC News. "We have concerns about potential side effects."
According to a search on the association's website, the IFM database of the IFM database has 12 practitioners. Singh is not among them.
"Until now, I've found three doctors who would approve that," Laurel Austin said in the video. "And to say that they use it too."
"No evidence of a crime"
Bradley Austin's appeal was not the first time anyone reported the treatment of his sons by Laurel Austin to the police. Last November, a staff member of Options Services, a day program for people with developmental disabilities in Merriam, Kansas, called the police to announce that Laurel Austin had donated carbon dioxide. Jeremy's chlorine in the parking lot after staff members refused. Laurel Austin described this incident to the police as part of the January investigation.
Laurel Austin reacted by leaving a negative review in April on the Google page of the organization. In the study, she wrote that she was "caught unawares" by the center, who had called the police while she had received a doctor's note supporting the use of chlorine dioxide. But, she continued, "the stress and anxiety finally came to an end today, when five months later two other doctors signed this AS SAFE protocol."
The owner of Options Services did not call back a phone call, but responded to Google's advice.
"I'm sorry you're disappointed that we contacted the police in accordance with Poison Control's instructions for forcing your son to drink bleach," the owner replied in April, adding that Jeremy was vomiting and that the smell of the solution made the employees sick. . "What you force your son to do during your time is most certainly your business, but we will not be put in the position of harming anyone."
The Options Services report triggered a survey of Kansas's adult protection services, according to police records. A social worker visited Laurel Austin's home, examined the chlorine dioxide bottle and the doctor's note and contacted Jeremy, noting that he did not appear to have any negative side effects. "Although the MMS protocol is controversial, it has not reached the threshold required to send back," said the social worker, according to the police report, Laurel Austin's sons.
A representative of the Kansas Adult Protection Services declined to comment, citing privacy laws.
After talking with the poison control center, the adult protection services and the doctor, the Lenexa police closed their investigation. "There was no legal authority to feel in immediate danger," the report revealed.
"We closed our case without evidence of a crime," said Danny Chavez, chief of information for the Lenexa Police Department.
Chavez said the police could eventually have sued if Laurel Austin had fed his son with gasoline, but with respect to chlorine dioxide, "we have no evidence that it 's possible. it is an extremely dangerous poison ".
"At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves if the intention to commit a crime is being considered. The question of whether something is good practice and whether something reaches the level of a crime are two separate things. "
Bradley and Kerrie Austin do not talk to Laurel Austin and have not seen Jeremy or Joshua since the police filed the case in January. Although they pay child support, they have no legal rights to young men because they are not listed as guardians.
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