Don’t do it…
The maker of Dettol has warned that “under no circumstance” should its product be ingested or injected into your body.
Lysol and Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser Plc issued the advice on Friday morning, after it was asked whether internal administration of disinfectants “may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus”, following some recent speculation and social media rumours.
“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),” the company 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.”
The statement came following a White House daily task force briefing on Thursday, where US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest injecting disinfectant into the human body as a method of treating Covid-19.
He made the comments after Bill Bryan, a Homeland Security Department official, told reporters that research had shown bleach could kill the virus in saliva or respiratory fluids in five minutes and isopropyl alcohol could kill the virus even quicker.
Trump appeared to openly speculate to reporters what these findings could mean for the Covid-19 treatment.
“I see the disinfectant knocks it out in a minute. One minute,” Trump said following the presentation.
“Is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside? Or almost a cleaning. It gets in the lungs and does a tremendous number on the lungs.”
“So it will also be interesting to check that so you’re gonna have to use medical doctors. But it sounds, it sounds interesting to me so we’ll see.”
The White House said that Trump’s comments were taken out of context.
“President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasised again during yesterday’s briefing,” White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement issued on Friday.
“Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines,” she added.
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