Does a doctor prove he has cured thousands of COVID-19 patients with chlorine dioxide? No, that's not true. A doctor who made the claim offers no evidence or details about the people he says he has saved from the disease with the toxic chemical. Chlorine dioxide is a disinfectant and is not a "cure or treatment for medical ailments." The United States Food and Drug Administration has warned people that chlorine dioxide should not be used to treat COVID-19, as it could cause illness.
The claim appeared in a video published by Red Voice Media on June 8, 2021, titled "Stew Peters Show: Doctor Has CURED THOUSANDS of COVID Patients, Communists Issue Warrant for Patriot's Arrest" (archived here) which opened:
Broadcasting live from the Cortez Wealth Management studios the Stew Peters show is on.
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Stew Peters Show: Doctor Has CURED THOUSANDS of COVID Patients, Communists Issue Warrant for Patriot's Arrest
Full Show - 6/8/21
Conservative anti-vaccination supporter Peters hosted Dr. Manuel Aparcio on his show, and the doctor claimed he had saved thousands of lives by administering chlorine dioxide to patients who had COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention lists chlorine dioxide under the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards on its website, noting that at common concentrations it is "severely irritating to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract. Inhalation of this gas may cause lung oedema ... The effects may be delayed. Medical observation is indicated."
The Georgia Department of Public Health published a warning titled "Chlorine Dioxide Should NOT be used to Treat COVID-19," in August 2020:
The Department of Public Health has received reports that people are using diluted chlorine dioxide to "treat" COVID-19. Chlorine dioxide is a bleach-like cleaning agent and, if ingested, can have severe, adverse health effects, including death.
Chlorine dioxide products have not been shown to be safe and effective for any use, including treatment of COVID-19.
At 1:06 in the video Peters introduces the doctor:
Peters: Joining us now, a doctor from Mexico, Dr. Manuel Aparicio, who says he has successfully cured thousands of COVID patients. That's right, cured them. Thousands of them. He and a team of other doctors have found a cure but nobody wants to talk about it.
Aparicio: That's right. We have healed thousands of patients with chlorine dioxide.
Peters: Chlorine Dioxide. Is the Mexican government trying to suppress your speech, your revelations regarding this?
Aparicio: Not so much suppressing but not supporting, I would say. We have demonstrated and talked to authorities, the health system, and proved them that we are healing patients with a success rate over 99%. They are not authorizing this. So, I have to treat patients at their houses because we are not allowed to treat them in hospitals. Even though we have an excellent success rate."
Aparicio continued:
I found in chlorine dioxide, over one year ago, that this was the antidote for COVID-19 both in preventive and prophylactic management and in treatment of COVID-19 with excellent success rates."
He claimed that he had treated patients that ranged in age from "zero to 104," and that 100% of children he had treated with chlorine dioxide had survived.
At 6:00 in the video, Aparicio said he is a member of COMUSAV, an organization he says has a membership of 5,000 doctors in 25 counters and they have "registered more than 100,000 cases that have been healed of covid-19." Colombia Check, a fact-checking organization, states COMUSAV is not a reputable medical or scientific organization:
The "Comusav" defines itself as a non-profit organization that encompasses doctors and health professionals who promote "comprehensive homeopathic practices". At the head of this organization is the also questioned Andreas Kalcker, as we explained in a previous publication. In addition, its members promote indiscriminately and without robust and valid scientific evidence the consumption of chlorine dioxide in Latin America."
Aparicio claims that along with chlorine dioxide, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are all cures for COVID-19 -- claims that Lead Stories has previously debunked here. The FDA warns against using ivermectin to treat COVID-19 here.
Aparicio offers no proof of his claims that any of his patients with COVID-19 have taken chlorine dioxide and survived, or been "cured."
In early 2020 Lead Stories debunked the claim that a "Miracle Mineral Solution" spray treated COVID-19. "In fact, MMS consists of chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach that is used both on textiles and in the industrial treatment of water. It has been banned in several countries around the world for use as a medical treatment," according to The Guardian.
Ben Mizer, a federal prosecutor, indicted four people selling MMS in 2013. He previously told ABC News:
They might as well be selling Clorox. You wouldn't drink Clorox, so there is no reason to drink MMS."
On August 12, 2019, the FDA issued a warning to consumers about what it called "dangerous and potentially life threatening side effects of Miracle Mineral Solution." The statement went on to say:
Miracle Mineral Solution has not been approved by the FDA for any use, but these products continue to be promoted on social media as a remedy for treating autism, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and flu, among other conditions. However, the solution, when mixed, develops into a dangerous bleach which has caused serious and potentially life-threatening side effects."
The World Health Organization stated, as of May 13, 2021, that there is no cure for COVID-19:
Results from the WHO's Solidarity Trial indicated that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appear to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients."
