Chlorine dioxide cards: they Don't protect against COVID and they could hurt you

Although chlorine dioxide was already sold long before the pandemic as a 'miraculous mineral substance', COVID-19 seems to have further driven its sale in an irregular market that revolves around this chemist, qualified as “dangerous” byInternational Health Authorities.

Such is the case of the so -called "chlorine dioxide sanitizer cards."They promise to generate a protective barrier against bacteria and viruses-as the one caused by COVID-19-, up to a square meter around the person who carries it.

But since there is no scientific study that certifies your supposed benefit, specialists say that these cards are a scam;and the health authorities, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), describe them as a "threat to public health."

A risk within reach of anyone

On April 24, the EPA and the United States International Customs and Protection Office (CBP) of the United States warned about a restriction to prevent the entry of this type of products, also known as Shut Out virus.

According to the EPA, "the safety and effectiveness of these articles against viruses has not been evaluated."In addition, they pointed out that "unjustified statements that protect against viruses threaten public health."

The EPA even asked distributors like Ebay and Walmart to stop their sale.But that did not prevent these cards from being acquired, through social networks.

In Mexico, they are marketed in different ways under the argument that they are "less visible and annoying than a facial mask."

While on Twitter, users presume them as a "hold, but really," because they say they contain "substances that protect you from coronavirus."

In the Walmart Mexico store, Virus Block out brand cards are also available.According to the product description, it is an “air disinfection card for the whole family.Use insurance: through the continuous release of chlorine dioxide ”.In this case, the attention that is offered within the computer department, with a cost of 199 pesos.

We consulted about the Walmart company, but until the publication of this note we did not obtain an answer.

The donation in Jalisco

The Zapopan City Council, Jalisco, received a donation from those cards from a company that markets them in Mexico, as supposed protection against COVID-19.

Delait Rodriguez, director of the company that made the donation, acknowledged the last July 20 during the delivery event to the Zapopan authorities, that its product is controversial.

“There are bases that say they are, others that do not work.They generate additional protection, in essence they generate chlorine dioxide, which generate a protective field, which can somehow help and, if it does not help, it does not hinder, ”according to the informant, local medium of Jalisco.

Chlorine dioxide cards, toxic and without effectiveness

The idea seems simple: "The card releases a low concentration of chlorine dioxide to eliminate germs and viruses in the surrounding air."

However, Dr. Carlos Alberto Pantoja Meléndez, an academic of the UNAM Faculty of Medicine, says that if this were true the chlorine dioxide in the form of gas would not only eliminate the lipid layer of viruses ... It would also affect the cells he finds inYour path, like those that cover the eyes or those found in our respiratory system.

Damage like the one that mentions all it would do is make us more vulnerable to acquiring infectious diseases.

For infectologist Uri Torruco, "there is no evidence that chlorine dioxide sanitizer cards serve what they say they serve."

Chlorine dioxide added, "it is a substance that can destroy bacteria, fungi, etc., but its use in humans is not adequate under any circumstances."

He also pointed out that for a card to work as some of its promoters mention, it would have to have a very high concentration of chlorine dioxide, which would be toxic for those who carry it.

"Either it is a hesitated or is completely toxic," says Torruco;"It's false information, I would advise them," says Pantoja.

The Chinese medium The Bipartisan Press also recovered the opinion of the virologist and immunologist Ariane Davison, who said that chlorine dioxide cards "will do nothing to protect by inactivating respiratory viruses."

“The device is used around its neck, nowhere near its nose and mouth, which are the key portals for Covid infection.If the device approaches your face, the active ingredient, chlorine dioxide, would cause serious respiratory and ocular irritations and skin burns, since it is highly corrosive, ”he said.

International warnings

Since the pandemic began the health authorities of different countries-Mexico included-have warned that chlorine dioxide and its derivatives such as sodium hypochlorite cannot be used as a protection measure against COVID-19, much less like a cure.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says that “it does not recommend using products based on chlorine dioxide or sodium chlorite orally or parenterally in patients with suspected or diagnosis of COVID-19, or in any other case, because notThere is evidence about its effectiveness and the intake or inhalation of these products could cause serious adverse effects. ”

“Despite previous warnings, FDA is concerned that we are still seeing chlorine dioxide products for sale with deceptive statements that they are safe and effective for the treatment of diseases, now including COVID-19.The sale of these products can endanger the health of a person and delay appropriate medical treatment, ”said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn.

In Mexico, on July 23, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris) said that "there is no scientific evidence that determines the use of said product for the treatment of any disease."

Even the Undersecretary of Health Hugo López-Gatell said that: “There is no scientific evidence, I repeat, there is no scientific evidence either in Mexico or in the world that shows that chlorine dioxide is an effective product, and neither necessarily surely surely for theControl, prevention or treatment of COVID-19 ”.

Since 2010 Spain also warned its population about how dangerous chlorine dioxide can be.Argentina Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay are other countries that have advised against their intake.

Why is chlorine dioxide dangerous?

According to the agency for toxic substances, “if you are exposed to very high amounts of chlorite or chlorite dioxide, you might suffer from breath and other respiratory problems due to the damage caused by these substances to the ability of the blood to transport oxygenthrough the body. "

The United States Food and Medicines Administration (FDA) and the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products warned since 2010 that drinking any of these chlorine dioxide products can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe dehydration.According to the FDA Take MMS it is the same as drinking chlorine.

Carlos Antonio Rius, an academic Faculty UNAM explained that precisely chlorine dioxide works as a disinfectant because - like other disinfectants - oxidizes the membranes of bacteria or some of the centers of viruses.Therefore, chlorine dioxide, lower blood hemoglobin, because oxida and that makes it lose the ability to transport oxygen in the body.

Rius also points out that if you inhale or take "destroying nasal cells and lung cells, and affects the stomach."

Dr. Omar Francisco Carrasco Ortega, head of the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, UNAM, also warned us that “if we inhale substances that have chlorine or citrus dioxide, we can cause inflammation of respiratory cells, such as leukocytes, and you canCause something called chemical pneumonitis.

We can observe lung edema;We can observe something that happens in the people who have asthma, which is called Broncoospasm, which is that the muscles contract before the presence of these harmful chemicals. ”

Like the hound of political animal, checked in Argentina and cursed bulo in Spain, the false information that circulated regarding the alleged use of chlorine dioxide as a substance to combat COVID-19 have also discredited.