Inside the Anti-Vax Facebook Group is promoting a bogus cure for autism

Czelazewicz is just one of many affiliates selling Pure Body Extra online, including Larry Cook, one of the most famous anti-vax influencers in the United States. Cook and his group Stop Mandatory Vaccination were kicked off Facebook in 2020, but only after the group had attracted about 200,000 followers. Today, Cook sells Pure Body Extra as a cure for autism through his website Detox for Autism.

Pure Body Extra is manufactured by the company Touchstone Essentials, founded in 2012 by Eddie Stone and headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The company sells a variety of other health and wellness products. On the Pure Body Extra product page on the Touchstone Essentials website, the company says the product is safe “for all ages,” and in a section labeled “science,” the company claims that “its ability to absorb toxins elements, heavy metals” of the product. and environmental contaminants as evidenced by more than 300 studies documented on PubMed.”

However, when WIRED analyzed 300 studies, it found that many were non-human trials, including many animal trials. Indeed, over the past 10 years, only seven clinical trials of clinoptilolite, the specific type of zeolite used in PBX, have been conducted in humans, all of which were conducted on adults and some of which were not. related to the detoxification process. .

“This is a broader way of talking about alternative health, where [anti-vaxxers] criticize the medical establishment, saying they don’t have your best interests at heart and you can’t trust normal doctors or normal medical science, but they are so fond of seemingly selective research showed favorable results for some of the treatments they offer,” said Calum Hood, head of research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “Then they’re misapplying that science to try to convince people that a little bit of zeolite will cure their child’s autism.”

When asked for evidence that clinoptilolite is safe for use in children, Touchstone Essentials did not provide an answer, but Sonia O’Farrell, the company’s director of marketing, told WIRED that the company “did not claims that Pure Body Extra (PBX) can cure or treat autism or any medical condition for that matter. Pure Body Extra is a dietary supplement containing natural zeolite to support the body’s detoxification system. By definition, dietary supplements cannot claim to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any disease.”

O’Farrell added that the company does not endorse any of the individuals who sell its products or how they promote them. “Upon becoming aware of any medical claim raised by an Affiliate, our compliance team will advise the Affiliate to remove any such material,” O’Farrell added.

A statement written in small text at the bottom of the Touchstone Essentials website states: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

The FDA did not respond to a request for comment on how Pure Body Extra is advertised online.