> In 2020, 4% of Americans reported drinking or gargling diluted bleach, according to a CDC poll conducted of about 500 online participants.<p>which is more likely:<p>- 1/25 people are knowingly, willingly drinking bleach<p>- 1/25 people answering online polls are trolls
A lot of ultralight hikers purify water with bleach in the field. I have a tiny bottle as a backup water purification method. So, I haven't yet but I have bleach put aside for drinking in the future.<p><a href="https://americanhiking.org/resources/water-purification/" rel="nofollow">https://americanhiking.org/resources/water-purification/</a>
Sigh.<p>> One part sodium chlorite, a chemical disinfectant, and one part acid<p>This is not bleach. Bleach is sodium hypochlorite. Sodium chlorite can react with acids (under appropriate conditions, and as a non-chemist, finding a coherent description of those conditions is surprisingly difficult) to form chlorine dioxide.<p>Chlorine dioxide is a very useful chemical. You can put small amounts of it in water to kill microorganisms, and it is, in many respects, a dramatically better disinfectant than bleach. Here’s some for sale at an entirely legitimate store:<p><a href="https://www.rei.com/product/736898/potable-aqua-chlorine-dioxide-tablets-package-of-30" rel="nofollow">https://www.rei.com/product/736898/potable-aqua-chlorine-dio...</a><p>You can use it to make “elemental chlorine free” paper.<p>You can use it in the gas phase to deodorize or disinfect rooms! (But don’t breathe it!)<p>Drinking it in anything more than a tiny concentration left over from water disinfection seems like a mistake to me. Also, AIUI, the chemicals involved in making it can also form chlorate, which is <i>not</i> something you want to be drinking.