Trump’s disinfectant comments dangerous, say doctors and company
DOCTORS and health experts urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant yesterday after US president Donald Trump suggested scientists should investigate inserting the cleaning agent into the body as a way to cure Covid-19.
“(This is an) absolutely dangerous crazy suggestion,” said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia. “You may not die of Covid-19 after injecting disinfectant, but only because you may already be dead from the injection.”
Trump said at his daily media briefing on Thursday that scientists should explore whether inserting light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the new coronavirus might help them clear the disease.
“Is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning?” he said. “It would be interesting to check that.”
Trump also suggested that disinfectant “knocks it out in one minute”.
Parastou Donyai, director of pharmacy practice and a professor of social and cognitive pharmacy at the University of Reading, said Trump’s comments were shocking and unscientific.
He said people who were worried about the disease should seek help from a qualified doctor or pharmacist, and “not take unfounded and off-the-cuff comments as actual advice”.
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and a former US labour secretary, added on Twitter: “Trump’s briefings are actively endangering the public’s health. Please don’t drink disinfectant.”
Reading’s Donyai said previous comments by Trump had already been linked to people self-administering medicines or other products in ways that make them poisonous.
“We have already seen people mistakenly poisoning themselves by taking chloroquine when their hopes were raised by unscientific comments,” he said.
Reckitt Benckiser, which manufacturers disinfectants Dettol and Lysol, issued a statement yesterday warning people not to ingest or inject its products to treat Covid-19.
“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). 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 company said.
Reckitt Benckiser did not mention Trump outright, but rather explained the urgency as “due to recent speculation and social media activity”.
Late last month, one US man died and his wife was admitted to the hospital after they ingested an aquarium cleaning solution because it contained traces of hydroxychloroquine. Hours earlier, Trump had touted it as a possible coronavirus drug. |