Reckitt Benckiser, the manufacturer of Lysol, has issued a warning stating that “under no circumstances” should its products be ingested or injected. The statement came after President Donald Trump inquired about the possibility of injecting disinfectants into the body as a possible treatment for the coronavirus.
“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” a spokesperson for Reckitt Benckiser, the United Kingdom-based owner of Lysol, said in a statement. “As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information. We have a responsibility in providing consumers with access to accurate, up-to-date information as advised by leading public health experts.”
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The statement came after Trump on Thursday suggested during his daily press briefing that medical experts should look into exposing the body to various forms of heat and light as a potential treatment for coronavirus. He also suggested injecting disinfectant. His comments came after he was presented with the results of government research that found coronavirus appeared to weaken faster when exposed to sunlight and heat, and that bleach could kill the virus in saliva or respiratory fluids within five minutes.
“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” Trump said. “And I think you said that hasn’t been checked but you are going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you could do either through the skin or in some other way. I think you said that you are going to test that, too.”
“And then I saw the disinfectant, where knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way we could do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning,” the president continued. “As you see it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”
The president’s remarks, however, have been met with widespread criticism from medical professionals. Speaking with NBC News, Dr Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and global health policy expert, said that the “notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous.” He added that doing so is “a common method that people utilise when they want to kill themselves.”
