NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – The number of people calling the NYC Poison Control Center about exposure to household cleaners increased after a White House briefing in which President Donald Trump made comments about disinfectants being used “inside” the body against coronavirus.
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A spokeswoman for the control center told the Daily News that it handled 30 cases of possible exposure over an 18-hour period between 9 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Friday.
Of the 30 cases, 9 were about exposure to Lysol, 10 were about bleach and 11 were about household cleaners.
During the same 18-hour period last year the center only managed 13 such cases, according to the News.
Trump’s comments caused a storm of controversy Friday, with doctors expressing concern people might use toxic disinfectants as an internal treatment for the coronavirus.
“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said Thursday evening. “And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?”
Reckitt Benckiser, the parent company of Lysol, even issued a warning: “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).”
Trump later said he was being “sarcastic” with reporters at the briefing.
"I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen," Trump said. "I was asking a sarcastic—and a very sarcastic—question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside.”