Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure The Binge

Meet Mark Grenon, Jim Humble, and the Genesis II church. Mark Grenon, a missionary in the Dominican Republic, contracts MRSA. He discovers the Miracle Mineral Solution, and claims that it has miraculously cured him of numerous ailments.



This takes him to the founder of MMS, Jim Humble, a man who claims to be a billion-year-old god from the Andromeda galaxy, and has treated thousands of people with what he calls "my malaria solution.” Together, they start the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing.



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A Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg, & Sony Music Entertainment production.



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Fiona O'Leary is a fearless firebrand, and mother of four autistic children. She is also an online vigilante who will stop at nothing to take down proponents of MMS. She's part of a loosely affiliated group of keyboard warriors known as "The Bleach Hunters.” Her Nemesis is Kerri Rivera, a former real estate agent who created something called "The Autism Protocols", which promote using MMS as a "cure" for autism. Meanwhile, a tragic death in the South Pacific of someone using MMS alerts the FDA that something might be terribly wrong.



Want the full story? Unlock all episodes of Smoke Screen, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free.



Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.



A Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg, & Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts.
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What starts for Daniel Smith as an attempt to regain trust in medicine quickly becomes "Project Green Life" – a top distributor of MMS. Then, the feds catch wind of his operation, hoping to take him down.

The Grenons use Daniel's prosecution as a rallying cry for the Genesis II church, claiming that their church status is what would insulate them from future attempts by the feds to shut them down.



Want the full story? Unlock all episodes of Smoke Screen, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free.



Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.



A Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg, & Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts.
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Self-appointed archbishops Jim Humble and Mark Grenon begin hosting seminars around the world, and charging $450 per person to attend. But it wasn’t just locals expressing interest in the so-called cure: now, national media was catching wind of the group, thrusting the Genesis II Church further into the limelight.



Want the full story? Unlock all episodes of Smoke Screen, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free.



Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.



A Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg, & Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts.
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As MMS continued its rise, so did the Federal Drug Administration’s attention on the so-called cure.



But MMS would prove difficult to clamp down on. Between eBay and Amazon, sales of the vials were reaching the millions. In 2019, a special agent with the FDA began buying MMS, gaining information on the church and its founders.



But the Genesis II Church would receive a major boost in March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic rattled the world. Unapproved Covid cures were rampant, leading to the formation of the FDA’s Operation Quack Hack. The operation targeted 700 groups accused of fraud and Genesis II was one of them. It seemed as though the government was gaining on the Grenons. Until the man inside the Oval Office tacitly endorsed their miracle solution.



Want the full story? Unlock all episodes of Smoke Screen, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free.



Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.



A Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg, & Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts.
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In the summer of 2020, the government raided Grenon's compound and arrested two of Mark Grenon’s sons. But where in the world were Mark and his other son?



This episode traces the Grenons’ moves around the world, and examines both how they rose to international stardom … and how they were ultimately brought down.



Want the full story? Unlock all episodes of Smoke Screen, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free.



Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.



A Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg, & Sony Music Entertainment production.



Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices