A network run by Robert Baldwin, an American pastor from New Jersey, is administering Ugandans with industrial bleach, an investigation by The Guardian revealed.
Up to 50,000 Ugandans, including infants, have been administered chlorine dioxide so far, the report noted.
The product, which is extremely dangerous and has no known health benefits, is being distributed by Baldwin’s network — with the help of local religious clerics — as a cure for HIV, malaria, and virtually every other disease.
The pastor and one of his network’s main backers, former British clairvoyant Sam Little, have “trained” over 1,200 clerics to administer the “miracle cure.” Dedicated clerics — those committed to spreading the “cure” — are awarded smartphones.
The 25-year-old Little posted to his Facebook page a video of a trip he made to a village in western Uganda. In the video, he is seen instructing local hospital staff to administer the bleach. Along with eight adults, a 14-month-old baby can be seen, screaming in its mother’s arms as it is forced to swallow the bleach.
According to The Guardian, Baldwin is importing bulk shipments of sodium chlorite and citric acid from China. When mixed together, these two chemicals produce chlorine dioxide (MMS), a bleach used in the textile industry.
Baldwin and his associates operate under a “church” he founded called Global Healing. The church advertises itself as “using the power of Almighty God … to greatly reduce the loss of life” in Africa.
An activist posing as a freelance reporter reached out to the pastor to discuss his Uganda campaign, learning that the 52-year-old had deliberately set the operation up as a “church” in order to avoid being caught by authorities.
“When you draw attention to MMS you run the risk of getting in trouble with the government or drug companies. You have to do it low key. That’s why I set it up through the church,” he told the activist, Fiona O’Leary, in a phone call.
Baldwin also revealed that his company raises money through online donations, via Facebook. On the social network, the pastor’s potion is not referred to as MMS but is as “healing water” in order to avoid being discovered and flagged by algorithms designed to crack down on such operations.
The pastor has been trained as a student nurse, but has no other form of medical expertise, according to the publication. During his conversation with O’Leary, Baldwin also explained why he chose the impoverished African country.
“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. Those people in poor countries they don’t have the options that we have in the richer countries — they are much more open to receiving the blessings that God has given them.”
He also revealed that infants were treated with the bleach as well. Their dose was reduced to half, he said, claiming that the babies have experienced no side effects, except diarrhoea.
The Guardian contacted Baldwin by phone in New Jersey and asked the pastor to explain his work in Uganda. He said:
“We use natural healing therapies to help people – that’s something Christians do,” adding on that give the nature of their work, talking to the media could prove to be risky.
MMS is banned in several countries, including Canada and Ireland. In the UK and US, it is strictly controlled and has led to fraud prosecutions.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a public warning that advises anyone with MMS to “stop using it immediately and throw it away”.
Several people have been sickened by the chemical, the FDA says, suffering nausea, diarrhoea and potentially “life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration”.
Pastor Baldwin’s growing MMS network in Uganda appears to involve the distribution of the bleach free of charge. It is not clear how the money is raised to pay for it. There are fundraising pages on Facebook, though the sums of money donated seem small.
The Uganda ministry of health was alarmed to hear about the MMS trials, saying it had no information about chlorine dioxide being tested in Ugandan hospitals. Emmanuel Ainebyoona, a spokesman for the ministry, said that a government investigation had been launched.
“We are investigating these people’s activities. In the medical profession, you don’t do advertising when you heal people,” he said, referring to Little’s video in which he claims to have cured malaria in two hours.
The Ugandan ministry of gender and social development, which vets and approves all new orphanages, said it was also launching an inquiry into Little’s plans for a home for 20 children.
Many churches in Africa have got in trouble with the authorities for coming up with unorthodox medicines that they claim could heal the sick.
Recently, Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) ministries founder Prophet Walter Magaya along with his Aretha Medical Company were slapped with a lawsuit where they stood accused of announcing that they have found a drug, Aguma, which cures HIV/AIDS and cancer without following proper health etiquette.
Aretha Medical and the prophet were both found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $700.
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