The Spokane man who allegedly sold the chemical as a miracle cure was sentenced by a federal court on Tuesday night to more than four years in federal prison, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) reported in a press release.
Louis Daniel Smith, 45, was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Smith’s company, Project GreenLife, sold a product it dubbed Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), claiming it cured a variety of diseases and illnesses, but it was actually sodium chlorite mixed with water, Consumerist reports.
In its’ statement, the DOJ reports that sodium chlorite “cannot be sold for human consumption, and suppliers of the chemical include a warning sheet stating that it can cause potentially fatal side effects if swallowed.”
MMS has also been touted as a cure for Autism Spectrum Disorder, but as If You Only News reports, MMS is on the FDA warnings list due to the fact that it’s toxic and causes diarrhea, fatigue, severe vomiting, and low blood pressure associated with severe dehydration.
Pushed as a cure for autism, desperate parents forced their kids to drink it or gave it to them as an enema, and that destroys the lining to their intestinal tracts and kills off healthy gut bacteria.
Smith was also accused of allegedly instructing customers to mix the product with citric acid. Doing this creates chlorine dioxide — a chemical used as a bleach for textiles and pulp for paper products, Consumerist reports.
Chronic exposure to small doses of chlorine dioxide may result in neurodevelopmental and reproductive damage, according to The Environmental Protection Agency, Alternet reports.
The chemical is also a severe respiratory and eye irritant. It can cause nausea, diarrhea, and dehydration. Smith, however, told his customers that nausea, diarrhea and vomiting were signs that MMS was working. Even though instructions mentioned the risk of possible brain damage, Smith’s company told customers that the product may still be okay for pregnant women or infants who are seriously ill, Consumerist notes.
He was convicted last June of one count of conspiracy to commit multiple crimes, one count of fraudulently smuggling merchandise into the United States, and three counts of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud or mislead, WNCN reports.
The sentence is fitting, since it reflects Smith’s role in leading a business that sold dangerous chemicals under the guise of miracle cures to sick people and their loved ones, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said. Mizer is head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. He noted that consumers have the right to expect the medicines they buy to be safe and effective.
Since sodium chlorite can’t be sold for consumption, Smith allegedly got around this by creating bogus “water purification” and “wastewater treatment” businesses so that he could obtain the chemical and ship the MMS, thus avoiding detection by the Food and Drug Administration or U.S. Customs Border Protection.
Three of Smith’s former colleagues at Project GreenLife — Chris Olson, Tammy Olson, and Karis DeLong (Smith’s wife), have also pleaded guilty to introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, Consumerist reports.
