Dr. Alan Keyes is described as an American conservative political activist, pundit, author and former ambassador.
One title missing from his resume is medical doctor.
Making his shilling of cure-alls akin to the snake-oil salesmen of the Old West or the Alex Jones' of the modern era.
In fact, Keyes frequently promotes Alex Jones on his Facebook page despite the platform banning Jones and his hate-speech incitement to violence conspiracy theory spewing content.
On Keyes' own channel that still airs on YouTube, Roku and is shared on Facebook under the banner of Keyes' Independent American Media TV (IAMtv)—which again like Jones' InfoWars mainly sells Keyes' merchandise in pseudo-news segments—Keyes is promoting a product that "modern medicine doesn't want you to know about" that cures:
- HIV
- malaria
- hepatitis
- H1N1 flu virus
- common colds
- autism
- acne
- cancer
- STIs
- and MORE!!!
Giphy
Dubbed Miracle Mineral Solution or MMS, the product's primary ingredient is chlorine dioxide. Another use for chlorine dioxide? Industrial bleach. But is industrial bleach safe to consume?
According to Keyes a vast conspiracy involving the FDA, EPA, CDC, Poison Control, all chemists and medical doctors without suspended licenses and OSHA would tell you ingesting industrial bleach can cause kidney failure, liver damage, contact burns and the enemas suggested by Keyes and his ilk to cure childhood autism have resulted in serious injury and even death.
But what do they know?
Keyes has a degree in political science and was made an ambassador by the man with early onset Alzheimers who fell down on the job during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Surely something in there qualifies Keyes to give sound medical advice.
In a video shared in November entitled "Is Our Healthcare System Holding Back?" Keyes featured a woman who claimed to have reversed her child's autism by making him drink MMS. And then they promoted her book and his books and sold MMS and other stuff.
Watch the segment here:
Not content to peddle miracle cures, the wildly homophobic Keyes—he disowned his only daughter in 2005 after she came out as a lesbian—also writes books he pushes on his programs.
So why does Keyes have a platform?
President Ronald Reagan bestowed an ambassadorship on Keyes and included him as a member of his administration from 1983-1987—a period we now know Reagan was suffering from early onset dementia.
Keyes ran for President three time as well as for Congress in Maryland and Illinois. He lost each time by wide margins.
While there are issues in the United States healthcare system like the cost of treatment, don't turn to failed politicians for medical advice people. That's a good way to end up sicker or even dead.
The book Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything is available here.
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