The Untapped Healing Potential of DMSO - 2 - Life Extension

The Untapped Healing Potential of DMSO - 2 - Life Extension: An “underground” market in DMSO sprung up, with sales rumored to be over a billion dollars a year. This, Dr. Jacob notes, was from selling not pharmaceutical-quality DMSO, but rather so-called “underground” DMSO. It was not illegal to sell DMSO, and the public could purchase the industrial product virtually anywhere, from the local health food store to the dry cleaners, ice cream shops, hobby stores, and from the trunks of cars. It was also inexpensive: distributors paid about $1 a pint in bulk, and consumers were happy to pay about $20 a pint for a product that brought relief for conditions such as arthritis and sports injuries.3 The FDA, however, began seizing DMSO from distributors and retailers. It became harder to obtain, and eventually the furor died down. For Dr. Jacob and other DMSO researchers, however, the battle with the FDA continues to this day.

An additional (though related) obstacle to DMSO’s widespread use is its lack of potential profitability for drug companies. The few early patents granted on DMSO expired in 1987, and without patent protection for the DMSO molecule itself, drug companies cannot make money on it. Sales of so-called underground DMSO have moved to the Internet, where buyers usually cannot be certain of the strength or purity of the chemical-grade and industrial-quality product offered. 

An Iv-B industry where Iv sellers might be deceptive with its quality, B users are also hiding from the I-O police to get relief. They hide these transaction on the internet, the I-O police should make the market more transparent in Bi with communities sharing information on its dangers cooperatively. For example Iv sellers with poor products might be outed under Bi pressure on the I-O police to check their products.