FULL CLAIM: “[Andreas Kalcker] told me that [...] after they got to a thousand cases of autism being completely reversed using chlorine dioxide, they stopped counting”
REVIEW
A Facebook reel posted in September 2024 claimed that chlorine dioxide cures autism and tumors. It received more than 195,000 views at the time of writing. The reel was an extract of a January 2024 episode from the podcast Digital Social Hour, which currently has more than one million subscribers on YouTube.
The person who made the claim is Jonathan Otto, a filmmaker who has worked with several figures known for propagating health misinformation, including Joseph Mercola and Ty Bollinger.
Otto himself runs a website named “Bible Health Secrets”, a program branded as “a simple step-by-step guide that gives you everything you need to get started on your healing journey”. The cost of the program ranges between 90 to 200 USD. Curiously, the website also displays the following statement: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”.
During the podcast, Otto also repeated the false claim that vaccine makers are exempted from liability and promoted the unproven practice of injecting urine to treat cancer.
Andreas Kalcker, whom Otto cited as his source on chlorine dioxide’s alleged healing properties, is known for promoting the Miracle Mineral Supplement (MMS), also known as and Chlorine Dioxide Solution (CDS). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes the solution as “a liquid that is 28 percent sodium chlorite in distilled water”. These products also come with instructions to mix this solution with an acid before consuming it, which turns the mixture into chlorine dioxide, a type of bleach.
Per an investigation by Argentinian fact-checking group Chequeado, Kalcker had a run-in with Spanish authorities in 2012 when he promoted MMS in Ibiza. Spain had banned the sale of MMS since 2010 and Kalcker was arrested for allegedly violating Spanish public health laws.
He was also charged by Argentinian authorities in 2021 for illegal practice of medicine and selling fake medicines, particularly chlorine dioxide. These charges followed the death of a five-year-old boy after he was given chlorine dioxide by his parents.
Similar to Kalcker, the user who posted the reel also sells supplements that allegedly “detox” and provide various health benefits.
The reel’s caption implies that autism is caused by heavy metals and that chlorine dioxide can “detox” heavy metals, thereby curing autism. However, this claim isn’t substantiated by scientific evidence and using chlorine dioxide on the body is dangerous. We explain below.
Chlorine dioxide is bleach; it’s poisonous and shouldn’t be used in the body
The idea of using chlorine dioxide to treat all sorts of ailments originated with Jim Humble, a former Scientologist who claimed he was a billion-year-old god from the Andromeda galaxy. Humble, who died in 2023, founded the “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing”, which calls MMS a religious sacrament.
However, this religious community was simply a front for selling chlorine dioxide. A 2023 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which announced the sentencing of two leaders of the Genesis II church for selling fake cures, stated that the church was an entity created “to avoid government regulation of MMS and shield themselves from prosecution”. The press release also shared that the church’s co-founder stated it had “nothing to do with religion”.
The FDA cautioned that sodium chlorite and chlorine dioxide, which are present in MMS, “are the active ingredients in disinfectants and have additional industrial uses. They are not meant to be swallowed by people”. The FDA added that consuming chlorine dioxide products can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea; at higher concentrations, it can lead to life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration and acute liver failure.
The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry states that chlorine dioxide and chlorite irritate the mucosal lining of the mouth and gastrointestinal tract and can lead to breathing difficulties due to their effect on oxygen-carrying substances in the body.
Despite such warnings, there have still been reports of parents giving chlorine dioxide to children with autism through multiple routes: orally, through enemas, and bathing in it.
One promoter of chlorine dioxide for autism is Kerri Rivera, a former real estate agent who attributes autism to parasites in the gut and claimed that chlorine dioxide is “most effective when doses are timed to cycles of the moon”.
Some believe that “worms” appearing in feces after the administration of chlorine dioxide is evidence that MMS works. Other signs like gastrointestinal upset and even intestinal bleeding are also taken as signs of MMS’ effectiveness. This is untrue: these signs indicate damage to the gastrointestinal tract and the “worms” are actually damaged, sloughed-off intestinal lining.
In summary, far from being a “detox”, chlorine dioxide itself is a toxin that isn’t intended for use in the human body. There’s no evidence that it’s effective for any medical conditions that it’s marketed for, including autism and cancer.
We reached out to Otto and the Digital Social Hour podcast for comment. In an email, Otto claimed that warnings of chlorine dioxide’s danger are “propaganda” and that “Chlorine dioxide is sodium chlorite. Sodium = salt. Chlorite = salt […] It is not bleach”.
But this is incorrect. Sodium isn’t salt, it’s an elemental metal, and chlorite is a type of chlorine ion. Chemically, salts are ionic compounds composed of positively charged ions and negatively charged ions. What we know as table salt is sodium chloride (chemical formula NaCl), but this is chemically different from sodium chlorite (chemical formula NaClO2).
Otto also claimed that chlorine dioxide “oxygenates the body more effectively than anything else”. This is again false: chlorine dioxide is known to damage red blood cells and provoke respiratory difficulties when used in large amounts.
Causes of autism are likely multifactorial; no evidence that heavy metals alone are the cause
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that typically affects a person’s ability to interact and communicate with others. It’s called a spectrum disorder because the type and severity of symptoms can vary greatly from one affected person to another. It can be diagnosed at any age, although symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life, which is why it’s considered a developmental disorder.
The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development states that “[s]cientists don’t know exactly what causes autism spectrum disorder”. It also states the disease is so complex and no two people with the disorder are exactly alike, suggesting that the causes of ASD are likely to be many and that ASD likely “results from a combination of causes”.
Therefore, the claim that there’s one single cause of autism—like heavy metals or parasites—isn’t supported by scientific evidence. However, this claim continues to propagate, possibly because its simplicity enables the belief in one simple solution to a complex disorder.
The idea that “detoxing” heavy metals is effective for curing autism has circulated for years. It may be based on our knowledge that certain heavy metals, like lead and mercury, are known neurotoxins that affect brain development in an unborn child. This idea has led some to seek out chelation therapy as a way to treat ASD.
Chelation therapy uses chemical agents that bind to metals, thus promoting the elimination of these metals from the body through urine. It’s a medically proven treatment for metal poisoning, but there’s no evidence that it works to treat ASD. Nor is chlorine dioxide a chelating agent.
Finally, chelation therapy isn’t without risks; deaths have been reported in people who received it. In short, there’s a lack of proven benefit and confirmed evidence of risk in using chelation therapy for conditions other than metal poisoning.
The current medical consensus is that there’s no cure for autism. For example, the Mayo Clinic states that “[n]o cure exists for autism spectrum disorder, and there is no one-size-fits-all treatment. The goal of treatment is to maximize your child’s ability to function by reducing autism spectrum disorder symptoms and supporting development and learning”.
The U.K.’s NHS states: “Autism is where your brain develops differently to non-autistic people. It is not an illness and there is no cure.”
Although no cure for autism exists, various therapies have been developed to help people with autism reduce the potential disruptions caused by ASD symptoms. These include behavioral management therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and speech-language therapy.
Conclusion
Chlorine dioxide is a bleaching agent that has no medical benefit when used on the human body. It’s toxic and can lead to potentially lethal consequences.
The claim that ASD is caused by heavy metals isn’t substantiated by evidence. Scientific evidence suggests that there is no one cause of autism. The disorder’s complexity and variation suggests that a combination of multiple factors, both genetic and environmental, are involved. There’s no evidence that removing heavy metals from the body cures autism.
UPDATE (6 December 2024):
We added Otto’s response to our request for comment, which can be found in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth paragraphs.
