President Donald Trump had made many strange and even dangerous remarks in the past — but this one might have topped the others.
Trump held another bizarre daily White House briefing, which was supposed to be about the coronavirus that he turned into a circus.
On Thursday, Trump took matters too far by telling Americans that “tremendous” amounts of UV light, “inside of the body,” or injecting people with disinfectants that are used to kill the viruses on surfaces might be effective treatments for the coronavirus.
Trump said that some research would be necessary and added: “So, a question some of you are probably thinking of if you are totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with tremendous, I don’t know if it’s ultraviolet or very powerful light, and I think you said that had been checked, but your’ e going to test it. Then I said, what if you brought the light inside of the body which you could do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you were going to test that, too, sounds interesting.”
Trump took the issue, even went further by adding: “Then I see the disinfectant, one minute. 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’d be interesting to check that so that you’ll have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds interesting to me. So we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, where it goes in one minute. That’s pretty powerful.”
Minutes later, Trump continued with the dangerous absurdity by saying: “Not cleaning through injection. Almost a cleaning, sterilization of an area. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t work. But it certainly has a big effect if it’s on a stationary object.”
Lysol manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser (RB) was forced to issue a statement on Friday warning that “under no circumstance” should its products be administered into the human body or be used as a treatment for coronavirus.
The company said: “Due to recent speculation and social media activity, RB (the makers of Lysol and Dettol) has been asked whether internal administration of disinfectants may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). 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.
We have a responsibility in providing consumers with access to accurate, up-to-date information as advised by leading public health experts. For this and other myth-busting facts, please visit Covid-19facts.com.”
Millions of people were forced to take to social media to beg others not to drink Clorox or Lysol. #DontDrinkBleach and #disinfectant were trending topics on Twitter.
