Church leader who pushed bogus 'bleach' coronavirus cure wrote to Trump days before his 'disinfectant' comments

The head of a group promoting possibly lethal industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for coronavirus wrote a letter to President Trump this week, according to The Guardian.

Mark Grenon told Trump that chlorine dioxide, which is a powerful bleach used in processes like textile manufacturing, is “a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body," adding that it “can rid the body of Covid-19."

Just days after the letter went out, Trump went on national TV and said that disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus. “Is there a way we can do something, by an injection inside or almost a cleaning?" Trump said. "Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that.”

It's not known where Trump got the idea that 'disinfectants' can be used, although during the very same briefing, Under Secretary for Science at Technology at the Department of Homeland Security, Bill Bryan, said that researchers are "testing disinfectants readily available."

"We’ve tested bleach, we’ve tested isopropyl alcohol on the virus specifically in saliva or in respiratory fluids and I can tell you that bleach will kill the virus in five minutes," Bryan said. "Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds and that’s with no manipulation, no rubbing. Just bring it on and leaving it go. You rub it and it goes away even faster. We’re also looking at other disinfectants, specifically looking at the COVID-19 virus in saliva. This is not the end of our work."

As The Guardian points out, Grenon heads the group Genesis II, a Florida-based "church" that is the largest producer and distributor of chlorine dioxide bleach as a “miracle cure” in the U.S. The church fraudulently claims that the product can cure 99% of all illnesses including cancer, malaria, HIV/Aids, and autism.

Read more at The Guardian.