Author who said bleach cures Covid, cancer to speak at Donald Trump’s private golf resort | World News

US President Donald Trump’s private golf resort in Florida is set to host a speaker who promotes the use of industrial bleach as a cure for cancer, Covid, and autism, The Guardian has reported.Andreas Kalcker, a German citizen believed to live in Switzerland, will be one of about 50 speakers at the “Truth Seekers Conference” starting Thursday at Trump National Doral Miami. The event will bring together several anti-vaccine activs and conspiracy theors and is organised far-right commentator Charlie Ward.
Kalcker markets a product called “CDS”, short for chlorine dioxide solution, which he admits is a disinfectant. He claims it can “eliminate pathogens” that cause disease and has described it as “possibly the greatest medical discovery of the last 100 years”, according to The Guardian.
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However, health officials in the United States and Spain have strongly warned against it. The US Food and Drug Adminration (FDA) has said chlorine dioxide is effectively no different from drinking bleach and can cause life-threatening side effects like dehydration, diarrhoea, and kidney damage.
Kalcker’s appearance at the conference highlights how dangerous alternative health claims have been growing during Trump’s second term in office. Trump’s controversial decision to appoint Robert Kennedy Jr, a known vaccine sceptic, as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, has already worried many health experts.
Kennedy, who used to lead the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, praised Trump’s pandemic response and said he had looked at “all of the different remedies including even chlorine dioxide”. He also spoke about treating measles outbreaks with cod liver oil and praised doctors who allegedly “healed” hundreds of measles cases with inhaled steroids – all without evidence.
Kennedy’s comments helped clarify a puzzling moment from Trump’s first term when he famously suggested using disinfectant “ injection” to fight Covid during a White House briefing in April 2020.Story continues below this ad
Since Trump’s return to the White House, there has been a sharp increase in government censorship of science information. Several public health websites have been taken offline, including an FDA page warning that chlorine dioxide is a “powerful bleach typically used for industrial water treatment”. However, a 2019 press release warning against the chemical can still be found online.
Kalcker has built a wide customer base across Latin America and sells his product using scientific-sounding language. He calls himself “Dr Kalcker” and claims to specialise in “electromolecular medicine”. He also runs a training centre promoting claims that chlorine dioxide can cure autism, Parkinson’s disease, and vaccine injuries, though none of these claims are supported evidence.
Fiona O’Leary, a campaigner against pseudoscience and mother of autic children, told The Guardian: “Kalcker presents himself as a doctor, is very clever, and has created a product that sounds and looks plausible. But at the same time he is promoting the lunatic idea that autism is caused parasites.”
Kalcker faced legal trouble in Argentina in 2021, when he was investigated and charged after the death of a five-year-old boy whose parents gave him chlorine dioxide.Story continues below this ad
At the Trump Doral event, Kalcker is expected not only to speak but also to sell books promoting his product. Trump’s resort to ask if it was appropriate to host such an event, but no response was received.
Charlie Ward, who organised the conference, is known for spreading conspiracy theories and is an associate of Trump’s son, Eric Trump. In 2022, he controversially claimed that “more people have been killed the jab than were killed in the Holocaust”, The Guardian reported.