Drinking hydrogen peroxide for health?

Why drinking hydrogen peroxide is a very dangerous form of stupidity

Dead end of the global monetary economy

Fiat money-based profit-driven economy in combination with globalization and crony capitalism poses imminent existential threat to human civilization through degradation of health, devastation of environment, waste of natural resources and direct loss of human lives due to geopolitically motivated wars. This is the major fundamental reason why we do have deepening health crisis in the United States, the world’s beacon of democracy and free enterprise. Unconstitutional health care forcefully imposed on American people by Obama administration is another painful symptom of the systemic failure. Unfortunately, damaging effects of this pseudo-economy with its suicidal focus on profit-maximization spread well beyond physical domain. The profit-driven system also promotes moral hazard when false statements, lies, stealing and corruption are commonplace and a business of telling the truth requires courage, self-sacrifice and readiness for condemnation and punishment. Another unfortunate reality is that all geographically local hard currency-based economies of the past were always corrupted to and crushed in the dead end of fiat money. This time we are on a brink of historically unprecedented event: the crush of global scale.

Failure of modern medicine

An article titled “The Medical Paradigm Is Fatally Flawed” describes profit-driven dead end as follows: “The bottom line is the paradigm. Everything we require to live is twisted to serve the corporate purpose of profits. Energy. Transportation. Food. Healthcare. Grieving. It makes no difference. Where one corporate function can out-compete another – as in grabbing as much of a person’s property during the dying process as possible, leaving less for burial and grieving … well, that’s part of the corporate game.”

Although you can argue about effectiveness of modern medical paradigm, the facts are very disturbing. According to the 2012 report from US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “In 2007, approximately 27,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, one death every 19 minutes. Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States. The increase in unintentional drug overdose death rates in recent years has been driven by increased use of a class of prescription drugs called opioid analgesics. Since 2003, more overdose deaths have involved opioid analgesics than heroin and cocaine combined.”

Dr. Mercola continues: “The headlines tell it all. One day they’re announcing how great a drug is, and the next thing you know, they’re saying it’s not so great after all. In this world of mass media and constantly-changing health information, people are confused about the paradoxical health information they’re getting, and they’re fed up… Unless your physician specializes in nutrition or holistic medicine, the prescription was probably the main focus of your appointment. That’s because treating symptoms and diseases – and prescribing drugs for them – is what modern doctors do.”

Another 2003 medical report concludes (by Gary Null, PhD, et al., PDF file) that “something is wrong when regulatory agencies pretend that vitamins are dangerous, yet ignore published statistics showing that government-sanctioned medicine is the real hazard. … the estimated total number of iatrogenic deaths—that is, deaths induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures— in the US annually is 783,936.” These data ignited further discussions stated that modern medicine and “prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists.”

Why hydrogen peroxide is not a panacea

Based on the above, it is easy to understand why more and more people turn away from the failing profit-driven “established” medicine to start seeking real health solutions in a domain of so-called alternative medicine. Many gullible patients become deluded by overstated health benefits of antioxidants, colloidal silver, alkaline water, urine therapy, ozone therapy, raspberry ketone, etc., and other “cure-all” cheap remedies lacking scientific proof or even common sense. Some of them are harmless like alkaline water, some are as questionable as argyria causing colloidal silver but others can be plain health damaging. Hydrogen peroxide, especially at 30 – 35% concentrations is certainly one of the seriously dangerous chemicals. Not only hydrogen peroxide is identified as a health hazard of the level of chlorine gas, it is also classified as a “violent chemical which may form explosive mixtures” and strong oxidizer. As a professional chemist who routinely handles hydrogen peroxide as a common lab chemical, I confirm – it is all correct! Yes, 30 – 35% hydrogen peroxide destroys even rough skin of your fingers; it leaves chemical burns which can be very painful.

Skin damaged with 35 percent hydrogen peroxide

I can understand that being diagnosed with cancer, feeling pain and desperation is harsh experience which may push you to the limits of trying anything from fasting to black magic but why in the world would drinking dangerous aggressive chemical be proclaimed as a new “cure for cancer”? Recently an article “Beat cancer with 35% hydrogen peroxide” by someone named S.D. Wells has been published by Natural News website not only without due critical review of the content but obviously without mere looking at the actual meaning of the title. Shame on Natural News! The article states that “Cancer has a rival that destroys it like an M-60 leveling a field of enemy soldiers. It’s called “hydrogen peroxide,” and the “lame-stream,” mainstream media will tell you how “dangerous” it is at 35%, but they won’t tell you that you can drip a couple drops in a glass of water each day and end cancer. Yes, it’s true.” No, it is not true but another piece of disinformation arising from ignorance, no editorial work and unprofessional attitude which may endanger health of thousands of readers and their families. Let’s look at the confusing statements in the article.

Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidant

1. Here is why readers are confused again: While the irresponsible title lies that you can “beat cancer with 35% hydrogen peroxide” it is only “a couple of drops in a glass of water” what Mr. (or Ms.) Wells and Natural News have meant.
2. “Cancer thrives in an acid-heavy system, where the blood and the organs are flooded with processed salt, sugar, animal fat and artificial food.” What this “acid-heavy” supposed to mean when human blood is maintained by homeostasis within the basic range (pH > 7.0) of pH 7.35 – 7.45? What does “processed salt” mean? Have you ever seen “unprocessed salt”? In no way hydrogen peroxide can be an alkalizing agent; it is a weak acid which lowers water pH to 6.2 units.
3. As many other writers who are lacking education, the author is too quick to overly simplify possible solution offering a panacea: “The most overlooked solution to all manner of illness and disease is perhaps the simplest. All pathogens, viruses, and parasites are anaerobic. They thrive in the absence of oxygen, but cannot survive with an abundance of oxygen. Even cancer cells cannot exist in oxygen. They depend on fermenting glucose to survive and multiply.” First, no, far not all pathogens, viruses, and parasites are anaerobic. Second, even if oxygen is important in fighting disease, you should understand that hydrogen peroxide is not oxygen; it is completely different chemical which cannot play a role of oxygen in living cell. Also, it is good to know that we breathe with air which contains only 21% of oxygen and that excess of anything can be toxic, including oxygen toxicity and oxidative cell damage. Third, the concentration of endogenous hydrogen peroxide which is naturally formed in living cells must be carefully controlled by bio-chemical mechanisms because if the levels of hydrogen peroxide become too high, the cell’s DNA and other proteins can be damaged. Scientists suspect that this and similar processes (of DNA damage) are what leads to cancer, diabetes and other disease. For this very reason the whole idea of drinking hydrogen peroxide is a very dangerous form of stupidity.
4. “Getting enough hydrogen peroxide inside the cancer cells is the key.” Oh, yes, I cannot agree more! But the huge unanswered questions are these: Whether your “a couple of drops in a glass of water” are of any ability of a) surviving digestion tract and blood stream; b) selectively targeting cancer cells and c) creating high enough effective concentration inside cancer cell to kill it? First of all, highly reactive oxidizing chemical nature of hydrogen peroxide leaves ZERO chances for “a couple of drops” to reach even bloodstream. Even if it makes it into the blood, hydrogen peroxide will quickly damage red blood cells via reaction with iron of hemoglobin oxidizing it to methemoglobin thus turning the red blood cells off. But way before that hydrogen peroxide will cause cell damage by oxidizing unsaturated fats of cell membranes, nitrogen- and sulfur-containing moieties of any proteins (including skin – see the picture above) it comes in contact in your stomach and guts on its long way to remote cancer tissue. Chemists know well that hydrogen peroxide is easy to produce aggressive hydroxyl radicals which are particularly unstable and will react rapidly and non-specifically with most biological molecules, causing, in particular DNA damage. Second, the author (S.D. Wells) then continues:” Well, you don’t have to be a scientist to understand that! By cutting apart the protein coating, the hydrogen peroxide then gets inside the cancer cells.” No-no, you have to be a scientist to answer the questions: What makes you so sure that hydrogen peroxide will not: a) cut apart many other proteins before making it to cancer cells and b) cut apart protein coating of healthy cells? There are two methods to deliver an unstable reactive drug to cancer tissue: a) direct injection or b) use technology of drug delivery. Taking such drugs orally makes no sense.

Finally, don’t you see another huge fundamental contradiction here with the annoying recommendations to drink hydrogen peroxide, a generator of hydroxyl radicals, for cancer cure and the widespread consumption of antioxidants in order to quenching the free hydroxyl radicals for cancer cure? In this regard I fully support FDA: FDA Warns Consumers Against Drinking High-Strength Hydrogen Peroxide for Medicinal Use: Ingestion Can Lead to Serious Health Risks and Death,  July 27, 2006.

Drinking 35% hydrogen peroxide is fatal

Here is a quotation from an article Accidental ingestion of 35% hydrogen peroxide: “A healthy 39-year-old man presented to the emergency department following the accidental ingestion of one-half of a 500 mL container of 35% hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide was in an unlabelled container in a friend’s refrigerator and was mistaken for water. Immediately after ingesting the hydrogen peroxide, he realized it was a caustic substance and drank 500 mL of water to induce vomiting.” In the present case, the immediate ingestion of 500 mL of water following the hydrogen peroxide may have prevented more serious oropharyngeal and esophageal injury.

Hydrogen peroxide is a corrosive chemical

“Hydrogen peroxide is a clear, colourless, odourless oxidizing agent found in concentrations ranging from 3% to 90%. Three per cent solutions are used as common household disinfectants, and are therefore a common source of accidental poisonings, especially in children. In one study of more than 95,000 toxic exposures reported to a poison control centre over three years, 0.34% were due to hydrogen peroxide and of these, 60% occurred in children younger than six years of age, and 85% occurred through ingestion. Fatalities in both adults and children have been reported with ingestion of 35% hydrogen peroxide. A concentration of 35% is technical grade or food grade hydrogen peroxide, and can be purchased in many health food stores because it is reputed to have multiple health benefits including being useful in the treatment of HIV, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Alzheimer’s dementia. Higher concentrations of up to 90% are used as rocket fuel.

Hydrogen peroxide is a health hazard

Hydrogen peroxide is relatively unstable and will rapidly decompose, through an exothermic reaction, into water and oxygen in the presence of alkali, metals and the enzyme catalase, which is found in mucous membranes, liver, kidney, red blood cells and bone marrow. There are three main mechanisms of toxicity from hydrogen peroxide: caustic injury, oxygen gas formation and lipid peroxidation.

Most exposures to hydrogen peroxide are with the 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide, which results in little or no morbidity. However, the storage and use of 35% hydrogen peroxide for natural health benefits results in an emerging source for more serious ingestions. Thirty-five per cent hydrogen peroxide can be lethal when ingested, and needs to be treated with caution and stored appropriately. Public awareness and regulation of the use of this substance is required.”

Bottom line. No, you cannot beat cancer neither with 35% nor with more common 3% antiseptic hydrogen peroxide as like as you cannot kill cancer by drinking chlorinated water. There is no such a thing as “food grade” hydrogen peroxide because this bleaching chemical, as much as chlorine or ozone disinfection, has nothing to do with food. But there are a few useful rules to always keep in mind. First – anything is toxic when overly consumed. Second – there are no magic bullets, elixirs and panaceas for solving complex problems such as human health problems. Third – you may choose to ignore science, basic knowledge of chemistry and common sense but when after drinking hydrogen peroxide you will get sick and have to call emergency room, do not blame hydrogen peroxide; blame your own ignorance and credulity. Critical thinking and thoughtful self-education, healthy life style and listening to your own body are more reasonable tools in solving many our health problems even in the daily absurd of the profit-driven economy.

Tags: cancer cure with hydrogen peroxide, dead end of the global economy, drinking hydrogen peroxide for cancer cure, drinking hydrogen peroxide hoax, dye diet, featured, hydrogen peroxide for cancer cure, Natural News fallacy of drinking hydrogen peroxide

Category: American diet, Healthy diet