Is Milla’s black salve in Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar real, and how safe is it to use?

The new Netflix show Apple Cider Vinegar explores the topic of holistic cancer “treatments”. The character Milla Blake, whose story seems to be inspired by the real influencer Jessica Ainscough, attempts to heal her cancer with various alternative therapies. One of these treatments is black salve. Apple Cider Vinegar shows black salve actually making Milla’s cancer worse.

Black salve is a real product. Some people have attempted to cure cancer with it, but the salve can actually have dangerous side effects. An Australian woman died in 2018 after using it on her abdomen. Here’s what you need to know about the black salve in Apple Cider Vinegar.

What even is the black salve in Apple Cider Vinegar?

It’s a dark-coloured paste made from poisonous plants. The product is considered unsafe, and is sold to people on unregulated websites. So, different people put very different things into it. The most common ingredient is extract from a plant called bloodroot. The sap burns is a strong alkaloid, and can burn through living tissue. Black paste often has the herb chaparral in it and the chemical zinc chloride.

The bloodrot plant (Image by Nichole Ouellette via Creative Commons)

Why do some people believe black salve can cure cancer?

Black paste is a type of escharotic – products which destroy tissue and leave behind a scar called an eschar. Victorian apothecaries did used to sell escharotics to people with skin conditions. Some people believed these products would burn away damaged skin.

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In the 20th century, scientists figured out that these products are usually ineffective against cancer, as they don’t necessarily destroy the cancerous tissue, and often damage healthy tissue. However, some pseudoscientists still claim black salve will “draw out” people’s cancer.

Black salve can have dangerous side effects, like in Apple Cider Vinegar

Milla buying black salve in Apple Cider Vinegar
(Image via Netflix)

People who use black salve often ruin far more skin than they intended, and develop infections.

The US’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website warns black salve “can destroy the skin and result in permanent disfigurement.” It says: “salve products containing corrosive ingredients, including black salve, are dangerous and are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat or cure any skin condition, particularly not skin cancer.”

In one case, black salve corroded a man’s whole nose. It had to be amputated. In 2018, an Australian woman called Helen Lawson was told by an unqualified healer that covering her abdomen with black salve would somehow cure her ovarian cancer. She developed terrible injuries and then died.

Apple Cider Vinegar is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.