(Adds comments)
By Martinne Geller and Jonathan Stempel
April 24 (Reuters) - Makers of household cleaners on Friday
took the unusual step of urging people not to drink or inject
their products, after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested
researchers try using them to cure COVID-19 patients.
Reckitt Benckiser, the UK-based maker of Lysol and
Dettol, issued the first warning, saying: "Under no circumstance
should our disinfectant products be administered into the human
body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)."
Clorox, maker of bleach, soon followed, calling it
critical for consumers to understand the facts.
"Bleach and other disinfectants are not suitable for
consumption or injection under any circumstances," it said.
The comments came after Trump said at a Thursday news
briefing that scientists should explore whether inserting
ultraviolet light or disinfectant into the bodies of people
infected with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus would
help.
"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."
Trump later said he was being sarcastic, after his comments
sparked swift and fierce rebuke from the international medical
community and others concerned that people might poison
themselves by ingesting products with harmful chemicals.
"We have a responsibility as a company to make sure people
are using our products as intended and are following the
guidance on the label and not unintentionally misusing them
because of different suggestions," a Reckitt spokeswoman told
Reuters. "We wanted to make sure nobody misinterpreted his
comments."
SPEAKING UP
Lou Colasuonno, who specializes in crisis communications,
said speaking up was the right thing to do, even if it risked
White House retribution for contradicting the president.
"If they'd been quiet during this, it could be construed as
acquiescence," said Colasuonno, a senior managing director at
FTI Consulting. He said the risk of White House pushback was
low, given the reaction to Trump's comments.
Lysol toilet bowl cleaner's warning states: "CORROSIVE.
Causes irreversible eye damage and skin burns. Harmful if
swallowed. Do not get in eyes, on skin or on clothing."
Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble, maker of Comet cleaner
and Dawn detergent, referred to a statement from the American
Cleaning Institute that "disinfectants are meant to kill germs
or viruses on hard surfaces. Under no circumstances should they
ever be used on one's skin, ingested or injected internally."
Since March, U.S. poison control centers have reported a
spike in calls concerning bleaches and hand sanitizers, as
Americans stay home and clean intensely.
"PRESIDENT-PROOFING YOUR PRODUCT"
William Marler, a food safety lawyer in Seattle, said
manufacturers could face legal liability if consumers who did
not know better misused their products, likening the companies'
statements to "president-proofing your product".
"The law would presume that a reasonable person wouldn't be
consuming a product, despite what the president said," Marler
said.
He said companies would face a "much different situation" if
their products were ingested by children, or people with a
mental illness that predisposed them to doing that.
Frank Vandall, a professor at Emory University School of Law
in Atlanta, said the argument that people know better was
weakened by Trump's comments.
"There are many people who could say that if the president
says it, poof, that's good enough for me," he said. "The
messenger is enormously important."
Mark Geistfeld, a New York University law professor
specializing in product liability, said a plaintiff must prove a
manufacturer failed to adequately disclose the risks, which it
could accomplish with a "do not ingest" warning on the label.
"The issue depends on whether there is already a warning on
these products stating that the disinfectant should not be
ingested," he said in an email. "An adequate warning does not
have to say, 'Do not ingest, even if recommended by the
President.'"
(Additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale, Tanishaa Nadkar and
Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty
Aand Tom Brown)
