Lysol and Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser said in statement that its disinfectants should not be administered to humans, after US president Donald Trump said researchers should try putting disinfectant into coronavirus patients' bodies.
"Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)," the company said.
Trump said at his daily media briefing on Thursday (23 April) 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."
While ultraviolet (UV) light is known to kill viruses contained in droplets in the air, doctors say there is no way it could be introduced into the human body to target cells infected with COVID-19.
"Neither sitting in the sun, nor heating will kill a virus replicating in an individual patient's internal organs," said Penny Ward, a professor in pharmaceutical medicine at Kings College London and chair of the Education and Standards Committee of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
"Drinking bleach kills. Injecting bleach kills faster. Don’t do either!," she added.
Shocking And Unscientific Comments
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.
Donyai said people worried about the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes 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," she said.
