Four Florida men who distributed the toxic bleach solution Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) as a cure for COVID-19 and other serious medical conditions have been sentenced to 5 to 12 years in prison for conspiring to defraud the United States. According to an October 6, 2023 news release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Florida, 66-year-old Mark Grenon and 36-year-old Joseph Grenon were sentenced to 5 years in prison, and 37-year-old Jonathan Grenon and 29-year-old Jordan Grenon received more than 12 years, due to a guilty verdict of contempt in court by a federal jury.

MMS is a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite and water, often mixed with citric acid, that can become chlorine dioxide when ingested. Chlorine dioxide is used as an industrial bleach in water treatment and paper production, and the FDA has warned consumers that drinking MMS is the equivalent of drinking bleach. It can cause serious side effects such as nausea, severe vomiting, diarrhea, and life-threatening low blood pressure. Drinking MMS has also been linked to at least one death.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the four men fraudulently promoted and sold MMS as a cure for COVID-19, as well as for cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson's, and HIV/AIDS. The men sold MMS under the entity Genesis II Church of Health and Healing ("Genesis"), which, according to the charging documents, Mark Grenon "has nothing to do with religion," and that he founded Genesis to "legalize the use of MMS" and avoid "going [ ] to jail."

Federal prosecutors charged Grenon and his sons for promoting MMS as a cure for COVID in July 2020. They were also charged with criminal contempt for ignoring previous court orders resulting from a civil case to stop distributing MMS and indicted in 2021. According the United States Justice Department news release about the case, the Grenons also "allegedly threatened the federal judge presiding over the civil case, and threatened that, should the government attempt to enforce the court orders halting their distribution of MMS, the Grenons would "pick up guns" and instigate "a Waco."

A jury trial conducted this year found the men manufactured MMS in a shed in their back yard and sold tens of thousands of bottles of the product nationwide, receiving more than $1 million in sales. Photos shown to the jury depicted blue chemical drums containing 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder — the active ingredient in MMS — which had warning labels stating the product was toxic, flammable, and highly dangerous to consume.

For more information about related products, see ConsumerLab’s answer to Do any supplements help with COVID-19? Do supplements like vitamin D, zinc, vitamin C, or herbals work?

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Leaders of “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing,” who sold toxic bleach as fake “Miracle” cure for COVID-19 and other serious diseases, sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison

See recalls and warnings:

Family Indicted for Selling Dangerous "Bleach" Miracle Mineral Solution As "COVID" Cure

Sellers of Miracle Mineral Solution Criminally Charged With Making Coronavirus Claims

Miracle Mineral Solution Is Dangerous, Warns FDA

Marketer Prohibited From Promoting Mineral "Cure" For Autism

FDA Warns Against "Miracle" Mineral Supplement