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douglas9

(5,478 posts)
Thu Dec 11, 2025, 12:01 PM Dec 11

Senator Endorses Discredited Doctor's Book on a Chemical He Claims Treats Everything From Autism to Cancer

For years, Sen. Ron Johnson has been spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 and the safety of vaccines.

He’s promoted disproven treatments for COVID-19 and claimed, without evidence, that athletes are “dropping dead on the field” after getting the COVID-19 vaccination. Now the Wisconsin politician is endorsing a book by a discredited doctor promoting an unproven and dangerous treatment for autism and a host of ailments: chlorine dioxide, a chemical used for disinfecting and bleaching.

The book is “The War on Chlorine Dioxide: The Medicine that Could End Medicine” by Dr. Pierre Kory, a critical care specialist who practiced in Wisconsin hospitals before losing his medical certification for statements advocating using an antiparasite medication to treat COVID-19. The action, he’s said, makes him unemployable, even though he still has a license.

Kory has said there’s a globally coordinated campaign by public health agencies, the drug industry and the media to suppress evidence of the medicinal wonders of chlorine dioxide. His book, according to its website, contends that the “remarkable molecule” works “to treat everything from cancer and malaria to autism and COVID.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/ron-johnson-wisconsin-chlorine-dioxide-pierre-kory-endorsement

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Ocelot II

(128,840 posts)
1. Ron Johnson is definitely in the running for America's Dumbest Senator.
Thu Dec 11, 2025, 12:04 PM
Dec 11

He might be tied with Tommy Tuberville.

 

Silent Type

(12,412 posts)
2. Didn't trump suggest drinking bleach and shining a bright light up your rear will cure Covid?
Thu Dec 11, 2025, 12:10 PM
Dec 11

RockRaven

(18,625 posts)
3. It is infuriating that this particular crap has been going on for two decades
Thu Dec 11, 2025, 12:22 PM
Dec 11

and now has whole new generations/cycles of grifters pushing it.

I remember when it was fairly new, with Jim Humble and his "MMS" hurting people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement

eppur_se_muova

(40,865 posts)
4. Another strongly oxidizing bleach and disinfectant taken to be a magical miracle cure. From Wikipedia:
Thu Dec 11, 2025, 12:29 PM
Dec 11
Safety issues in water and supplements

Potential hazards with chlorine dioxide include poisoning and the risk of spontaneous ignition or explosion on contact with flammable materials.[47][48]

Chlorine dioxide is toxic, and limits on human exposure are required to ensure its safe use. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has set a maximum level of 0.8 mg/L for chlorine dioxide in drinking water.[49] The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency of the United States Department of Labor, has set an 8-hour permissible exposure limit of 0.1 ppm in air (0.3 mg/m3) for people working with chlorine dioxide.[50]

Chlorine dioxide has been fraudulently and illegally marketed as an ingestible cure for a wide range of diseases, including childhood autism[51] and coronavirus.[52][53][54] Children who have been given enemas of chlorine dioxide as a supposed cure for childhood autism have suffered life-threatening ailments.[51] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that ingestion or other internal use of chlorine dioxide, outside of supervised oral rinsing using dilute concentrations, has no health benefits of any kind, and it should not be used internally for any reason.[55][56]

Pseudomedicine
Main article: Miracle Mineral Supplement

On 30 July and 1 October 2010, the United States Food and Drug Administration warned against the use of the product "Miracle Mineral Supplement", or "MMS", which when prepared according to the instructions produces chlorine dioxide. MMS has been marketed as a treatment for a variety of conditions, including HIV, cancer, autism, acne, and, more recently, COVID-19. Many have complained to the FDA, reporting life-threatening reactions,[57] and even death.[58] The FDA has warned consumers that MMS can cause serious harm to health, and stated that it has received numerous reports of nausea, diarrhea, severe vomiting, and life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration.[59][60] This warning was repeated for a third time on 12 August 2019, and a fourth on 8 April 2020, stating that ingesting MMS is just as hazardous as ingesting bleach, and urging consumers not to use them or give these products to their children for any reason, as there is no scientific evidence showing that chlorine dioxide has any beneficial medical properties.[61][56]
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