Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is touting a new, unfounded health theory—and this time he says it’s a treatment for everything from autism to cancer.
Johnson is pushing a new book titled The War on Chlorine Dioxide: The Medicine that Could End Medicine by Dr. Pierre Kory, who in 2024 lost his board certifications for continuing to promote ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication, to treat long COVID.
This time around, Kory is pushing the use of chlorine dioxide, a chemical used in bleach and disinfectants, as a treatment for “everything from cancer and malaria to autism and COVID.” He goes as far as to say that there is a worldwide campaign by global public health officials, the pharmaceutical industry, and the news media to tamp down information about what chlorine dioxide can be used to treat.
In his endorsement blurb, Johnson calls the book “a gripping tale of corruption and courage that will open eyes and prompt serious questions.”
Chlorine dioxide is a chemical compound primarily used as a disinfectant, but it also has other applications—none of which involve medical use in humans. The chemical is used in many areas of public life, including for sterilizing hospitals and laboratories. Those working with the chemical are advised to use it only in well-ventilated areas and to wear gloves while handling it.
Other doctors have already denounced Kory’s theory.
“It is all lunacy. Absolutely, it’s 100% nonsense,” Dr. Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society in Montreal, told ProPublica, which first reported Johnson’s endorsement.
Schwarcz said that at high concentrations, “chlorine dioxide is not a cure for anything, it is a poison.”
The senator confirmed to ProPublica that he did endorse the book. “After reading the entire book, yes I provided and approved that blurb,” he told the outlet. “Have you read the book?”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Johnson for comment.
For years, Johnson has relied on Kory for shoddy medical advice. He has twice called him as a witness to appear before the Senate: in one of these instances, the doctor claimed ivermectin could be used to treat COVID-19. Several clinical trials have found no evidence to support that claim, and the FDA warns against taking the drug for that purpose, noting that the agency “has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals.”
In 2022, the pair wrote an op-ed for Fox News where they voiced their opposition to a bill in California that would strip doctors of their licenses for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
Johnson himself is no stranger to promoting unfounded health theories. During the COVID pandemic, the Wisconsin Republican claimed without evidence that athletes were “dropping dead on the field” after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. He also claimed that the pandemic was a master plan by “an elite group of people that want to take total control over our lives.”
Similar to Johnson’s latest medical endorsement, President Donald Trump, in his first term, infamously suggested injecting bleach to combat COVID-19.
The post MAGA Senator Endorses Using Bleach-Like Chemical to Treat Cancer appeared first on The Daily Beast.
