COVID-19: Trump under fire for suggesting use of disinfectants to clean up lungs

April 24, 2020 4:32 pm

U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement about Syria at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 13, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

United States President Donald Trump has suggested the use of disinfectants to clean up the lungs as part of measures to fight coronavirus.

But experts were quick to challenge the suggestion, warning the dangers it poses to human health.

Reckitt Benckiser, which owns Lysol and Dettol, als0 reacted to the claim, saying “under no circumstance” should its products be administered into the human body.

At the White House coronavirus briefing on Thursday, Trump also wondered whether exposing the body of coronavirus patients to sunlight could help in their care.

“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” the US president said.

Trump further spoke about the possible benefits of “injecting” disinfectants into the body to the fight against the virus.

“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute — one minute,” he said, before asking: “Is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?

“Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”

Some medical professionals condemned the idea of injecting disinfectants into the body, warning the substance is poisonous and dangerous when mishandled.

NBC News quoted Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and global health policy expert, as saying: “This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible, and it’s dangerous. It’s a common method that people utilise when they want to kill themselves.”

UK Guardian also quoted Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California as accusing the US President of “actively endangering the public’s health.”