President Donald Trump is suggesting a new treatment for the coronavirus, and experts are warning against it.
During the White House coronavirus task force briefing on Thursday, Trump suggested light and disinfectant injections as possible treatments of the virus.
“Suppose if we hit the body with a tremendous whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that it hasn’t been checked but you’re going to test it,” Trump said.
He looked over to his task force to confirm they are going to test it.
“Supposing you brought the light inside the body, in which you can do, either through the skin or in some other way and I think you said you’re going to test that too,” Trump said. “Sounds interesting.”
Watch his comments below:
Dr. Trump on curing #coronavirus: Suppose if we hit the body with a tremendous light whether its ultraviolet or just a powerful light…[or] brought the light inside the body…the disinfectant [also] knocks it out, [so perhaps we could] inject it inside.”pic.twitter.com/2rtQdri7sC
— Louis Fishman لوي فيشمان לואי פישמן (@Istanbultelaviv) April 24, 2020
Trump pivoted to discussing the possibility of using disinfectant.
“Then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said.
He added, “Is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”
Health experts were quick to dismiss Trump’s proposal.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn does not believe injecting disinfectant into the body of someone suffering from the coronavirus is a good idea.
“We certainly wouldn’t want, as a physician, someone to take matters into their own hands,” Hahn said, adding, “And no I certainly wouldn’t recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant.”
Check out his comments below:
"I certainly wouldn't recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant," says FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, responding to President Trump suggesting the use of a disinfectant that can kill a Covid-19 infection "by injection inside." #CNNTownHall https://t.co/IlD9ZOfPy7 pic.twitter.com/jpFttUrZZE
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) April 24, 2020
Reckitt Benckiser Group, a British multinational consumer goods company, produces Lysol and other disinfectants. The company directly responded to Trump’s comments in a statement.
“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),” the statement reads.
Top health expert Deborah Birx responded to Trump’s question on whether heat or light had been used as treatments.
She told Trump, “Not as a treatment. I mean, certainly fever is a good thing. When you have a fever, it helps your body respond.”
Other health experts reiterated how dangerous this is.
Director of global health in emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University Medical Center Craig Spencer made his own assessment.
“My concern is that people will die. People will think this is a good idea,” Spencer told The Washington Post.
According to Dara Kass, associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, those ingesting these chemicals are likely to die.
She noted, “It’s horrific.”