During his coronavirus press briefing on Thursday, President Donald Trump brought up two ideas to help cure COVID-19: to “hit the body” with powerful ultraviolet or “very powerful” light and bring it into the body through the skin or to possibly inject disinfectant into the body. Both light and disinfectants have been shown to kill COVID-19 on surfaces.
“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” asked Trump.
For obvious reasons, inserting disinfectants that kill germs on surfaces directly into the human body poses a number of problems. Poisoning and death, for example.
And the concern that people may blindly follow the President’s health theory has prompted RB, the company that makes Lysol and Dettol, to issue a statement regarding the proper use of disinfectants.
They say, “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).”
One can also assume this advice also applies to cleaners like bleach, locally produced P&G products like Microban or Comet, or any other kind of chemical disinfectant.
But to make very sure Ohioans are not just randomly ingesting items from under the kitchen sink in an attempt to either purify or cure themselves of the coronavirus, several state politicians have spoken out on Twitter (and yes, they are Democrats — so far).
Just a quick (unbelievable) PSA to my constituents: Please disregard what trump is saying. Don’t drink Lysol or bleach to cure Coronavirus. https://t.co/AKs6x9SqYU
— Rep. Casey Weinstein (@RepWeinstein) April 24, 2020
Though not directly referencing Trump’s injectable disinfectant or light theory, Senator Sherrod Brown called for the President to stop dispensing unproven medical advice. To be fair, it could also be a reference to Trump’s insistence that malaria drug hydroxychloroquine be used as a treatment for the coronavirus, which the FDA has issued a warning against using outside of hospitals/clinical trials due to cases of poisoning and death.
Once again, @realDonaldTrump.
Stop. Playing. Doctor. On. Television.
People are going to get hurt. https://t.co/pFrAFWA3w1
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) April 24, 2020
Former City of Cincinnati Councilman and current chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, David Pepper, also had a Tweet.
Truly incredible.
FDA has to correct Trump’s deadly advice. https://t.co/TbJYHVSnSD
— David Pepper (@DavidPepper) April 24, 2020
End result: Do not drink disinfectant. Please.
This article appears in Apr 15 – May 5, 2020.
