It does not cause free radicals. The oxygen molecules that are pulled from the electron shell are broken down into their component parts and excreted in the normal bodily processes.
This is from Jim Humble's book The Master Mineral of the Third Millennium which you can get via a link to the left of this page. It describes the process from the chapter Chemical Explanation of MMS and Other Data for Laymen and Scientists:
How Chlorine Dioxide Oxidizes
Chlorine dioxide(ClO2 does not oxidize in that way. It draws all the
electrons away and never combines with anything. It is destroyed
in the process. Thus there is a “clean kill” and the substance that is
destroyed and the ClO2 leave no new chemical compounds behind.
So chlorine kills by creating new substances, and chlorine dioxide
completely destroys, leaving no new substances.
The chemical formula of chlorine dioxide, ClO2 shows that it has one
atom of chlorine, that’s the Cl, and two atoms of oxygen, that’s the
O2
Chlorine dioxide is the weakest of the oxidizers that are used in the
body. It has an oxidation potential of only 950 millivolts. When the
electrons in a ClO2 molecule hold the chlorine atom and the two
oxygen atoms together, the combination has a completely different
character than either chlorine or oxygen atoms alone.
The combination that we call a molecule has a need, or more
precisely, a voltage, that will draw 5 electrons from certain other
molecules. When the electrons are drawn away, these molecules fly
apart. You might think that when a ClO2 molecule pulls over these
electrons, they would strengthen its outer shell, but not so. Instead,
they neutralize the ClO2 outer shell and that molecule also flies apart.
The chlorine atom becomes a chloride (table salt) atom and the two
oxygen atoms are discharged before they leave the shell so they just
collect a molecule of carbon and become carbon dioxide. They can
no longer do anything in the body and thus are breathed out.
Oxidation Potential vs Oxidation Capacity
One of the amazing things about ClO2 is that its special construction
gives it an unusually high oxidation capacity. The oxidation potential
is weak, but the capacity is that it can draw away 5 electrons.
• Think of oxygen as a single-shot, large barrel, high powered
rifle, and chlorine dioxide as a small-barrel hand held machine
gun.
Each chlorine dioxide ion can draw away 5 electrons from any
substance that it is able to oxidize, while oxygen can only draw 2
electrons. So one ClO2 ion can destroy up to 5 molecules. That’s
more than any of the other oxidizers in the body. Amazingly, the only
substances in the human body that it can oxidize are pathogens
and poisonous chemical compounds which are usually heavy metal
compounds. Remember, that’s because of the very low oxidation
potential and the absence of any osmotic pressure exerted
inward by chlorine dioxide on many cells.
I should mention here that if you go to a very good university and
talk to a chemistry professor you will find that there are still things
concerning the ClO2 molecule that are not understood by chemical
scientists. Most of it has been figured out, but not everything. There
are a few places where things are still assumed, rather than known,
even by the scientists.
Some write-ups by inexperienced chemists state that the oxygen
ions coming away from the chlorine dioxide molecule are nascent
oxygen (extremely active oxygen), but that is not true. These oxygen
ions have already been discharged, the same as the oxygen in
carbon dioxide.
• If the nascent oxygen ion theory were correct, the oxidation
potential would jump to 1300 millivolts and the damage to the
body would be extensive.
But the entire time that the chlorine dioxide ion is oxidizing a
pathogen, the oxidation potential does not exceed 950 millivolts. As
noted above, the ClO2 ion itself is destroyed in the oxidation action.
If this entire paragraph was not true, most of the value of chlorine
dioxide in industry would be lost.
Chlorine Dioxide Oxidization Steps
The chlorine dioxide oxidation proceeds as follows:
• The ClO2 ion first draws off a single electron from the
pathogen;
• That electron then comes over to the chlorine dioxide and
instantly changes it to a sodium chlorite ion; and it begins to
make a hole in the pathogen.
• The ClO2 ion then draws 4 more electrons from the pathogen
or the nearest other pathogen.
• This completely destroys the sodium chlorite, leaving only
sodium chloride (table salt), and two neutralized oxygen
atoms that just become a part of the body’s water or part of
ClO2 to be breathed out of the body. This one chlorine dioxide
molecule is responsible for destroying 5 molecules in the side
of the pathogen.
