Former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Texas) thinks the threat of the Ebola virus very well may be a government plan to "deceive" the public.

"I do know that governments deceive us and sometimes they hype things. I don't think we are going to see in the next year a horrendous breakout of Ebola in this country," Paul said in a recent video on the topic, according to a press release sent out Thursday morning by his "Voices of Liberty" project.

Paul, "a former physician," offered the chemical DDT as a "viable alternative for treatment," as the release put it. The proposal would likely face some resistance as DDT is also a controversial insecticide that "may cause serious health effects," according to Scientific American. But Paul believes those health risks were never proven.

"The absolute proof of the danger of DDT was never — as far as I'm concerned — proven," Paul argued. "Instead, what we do is use very expensive organic phosphates [to treat Ebola], which do kill people. ... If DDT isn't quite as dangerous as they said, and if you could save a million people from this illness ... then we could think about it."

There is no evidence that DDT or organic phosphates, both of which are insecticides, would treat Ebola or control its spread. DDT's usefulness in combating Malaria was due to its ability to control mosquitoes carrying the disease. Ebola, in contrast, is transmitted through bodily fluids.

This is hardly the first time Paul has waded into a controversial issue making headlines around the world. In July, Paul defended the Russian government after the U.S. partially blamed them for the downing of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine.

(h/t Byron Tau)

Updated (10:27 a.m.): With additional note about DDT and Malaria.