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Medicine United States

After Trump's Musing About Injecting Disinfectants, Spike in Calls to Poison Control Centers (msn.com) 399

Posted by EditorDavid from the don't-try-this-at-home dept.
America's generally pro-Trump media site Fox News felt compelled to report today that "Some poison control centers reported a spike in calls following President Trump's suggestion that injecting disinfectant might help people infected with coronavirus." The comment alarmed medical professionals around the world. The president subsequently claimed on Friday that he was being "sacrastic," although at the press conference he was soberly addressing health experts on the coronavirus task force, urging them to launch a study.

Lysol parent company Reckitt Benckiser issued a statement Friday reminding people that "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)." In Maryland, the Emergency Management Agency received over 100 calls inquiring about the president's suggestion, forcing the service to issue an alert to remind citizens that "under no circumstances should any disinfectant product be administered into the body through injection, ingestion or any other route." Washington State's Emergency Management Division similarly issued a public statement to remind people to not "drink bleach" or "inject disinfectant."

More concerning, though, is the number of people who actually went ahead with the suggestion. In New York City, the Daily News reported that the Poison Control Center saw 30 cases of "exposure to Lysol, bleach and other cleaners in 18 hours after Trump's suggestion" that cleaning products might be used to treat coronavirus. NYC Poison Control saw only 13 such cases in a similar period last year.

Anna Sanders, who wrote the Daily News article, reported that no one died or was hospitalized as a result.
"After raising the idea of putting disinfectant inside people's bodies, Trump cautioned Thursday that he's not a medical expert," reports one New York-based news site.

" 'Maybe you can. Maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor. I'm, like, a person who has a good you-know-what,' Trump said, pointing to his head."
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After Trump's Musing About Injecting Disinfectants, Spike in Calls to Poison Control Centers More

After Trump's Musing About Injecting Disinfectants, Spike in Calls to Poison Control Centers

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  • It's cliche by now, but fake news... (Score:5, Informative)

    by JBMcB ( 73720 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @04:37PM (#59990090)

    Calls to the poison control hotline have been up since March, as people have been using a *lot* more cleaning products. There is little to no evidence of a "spike."

    https://reason.com/2020/04/25/... [reason.com]

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 )
      Indeed... they compare the nr of incidents against the same time last year (30 vs 13). But they really should compare it against the last few weeks to see if Trump's statement really had that big of an impact. And as it turns out, the poison control center head in Maryland reported that the number of similar incidents has nearly doubled compared to last year... for the last 6 weeks.
    • by saying that it's just that 30 people called the poison control hotline after ingesting Lysol or Bleach. Reason neglects to mention that they got 13 such calls the previous day.

      I would call more than twice as many calls statistically significant.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        the difference between 13/320M and 33/320M may be mathematically significant, but realize before the president even mentioned disinfectants, thirteen people ingested disinfectants and called the poison line. THAT is the amazing number.

        Also, while it's a fun parlor game to assign blame for other's stupidity, in order to think the President was telling sick people to ingest disinfectants, those same people would have to turn off their TV the moment he said it, in order to avoid his "I'm not a medical expert"

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      It is true that calls have spiked for the past month, but even Fox New [foxnews.com] is reporting that the poison centers have had to deal with hundred of calls, not only because people have taken the presidents advice, but also because they want to know if the advice is good.

      I know that Fox News is no longer the official Trump new outlet, OAN has taken over, but then they continue to prioritize the conservative doctrine over objective truth, so if they are reporting it must not only be true but important enough to rep

  • What were you saying, Trump apologists ? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ZombieCatInABox ( 5665338 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @04:41PM (#59990104)

    There are a lot of dumb fucks out there. The last thing we need is the dumb fuck in the white house giving these people bad ideas.

    On the other hand, isn't the fundamental principle of the conservative philosophy social darwinism ? You know, personal responsability and all that ?

    Or does it apply only when it's liberals that are getting hurt ?

    Seriously people. How much longer are you going to try to polish that turd ?

    • What does it matter if dumb fucks think T-D-Boyl or Mr. Clean is medicine? Let them die, they're a danger to the rest of us alive.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • If you want to drink bleach go for it. It's only the left wing media that is pushing people to do this. And if a bunch of leftists want to follow their fake news into a early grave that's their choice. The rest of us are too busy laughing at how they can't differentiate between a question and a statement. Pro tip: if you hear the phrase "is there" that means a question is being asked.

      It's the same thing that happened with that those two idiots who drank fish tank cleaner. Turns out they were big time democ

    • Not one of the cases was for ingesting cleaners, despite what the headlines are claiming.
      And no, there was no "spike" anyway, because the 31 cases is right inline with what they've been seeing for the past weeks. Since, you know, we're in the middle of a widespread disease outbreak and people are overusing cleaners on every surface and thus overexposing themselves to harmful fumes...

      Something that wasn't happening in 2019.

  • a non-issue (Score:2, Insightful)

    by iggymanz ( 596061 )

    so 30 cases.... in New York city?

    That's essentially zero. Dumb asses doing stupid things died from a lot of other equally absurd and utterly ridiculous things in that time. Anyone over the age of thirteen dumb enough to swig bowl cleaner or snarf down a urinal cake thinking it's "medicinal" richly deserves what they get.

    • Re:a non-issue (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gtall ( 79522 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @04:52PM (#59990148)

      Yeah, that's as stupid as, I don't know, the alleged president of the U.S. musing on whether disinfectants should be used internally, or shining people with really, really bright light. Where do people get these dumb ideas?

    • Are you serious? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Pollux ( 102520 ) <speter AT tedata DOT net DOT eg> on Saturday April 25, 2020 @05:09PM (#59990224) Journal

      Anyone over the age of thirteen dumb enough to swig bowl cleaner or snarf down a urinal cake thinking it's "medicinal" richly deserves what they get.

      Sounds like you're trying to be "sarcastic" like our president. Meaning your statement is dead serious.

      You know, there's some real people out there that could be alive right now if it wasn't for comments from our President. Like those that died from a lethal dose of hydroxychloroquine [axios.com] who took it because President Trump recommended people to "give it a try" [statnews.com]. Or those who may die from drinking disinfectant. And are we as a nation truly going to look at those who died because they listened to the president and just say to ourselves, "They deserve what they get?" That's just heartless.

      We're in a crisis right now, and people are in -real need- of leadership. And there are -real good- people, some who are my close friends, who do trust President Trump and are listening to him and believe every word he says. It's a shame, a real damn shame, that he's abusing that trust. In my book, he's as guilty as Michelle Carter [wikipedia.org], who kept telling her boyfriend to commit suicide until he finally did. But good luck convicting this president of manslaughter.

  • Not sure which is worse ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @04:50PM (#59990142)

    "Maybe you can. Maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor. I'm, like, a person who has a good you-know-what," Trump said, pointing to his head.

    ... that he mused/asked about using disinfectants internally to cure COVID-19, that he forgot the word for brain, or that he has a good one? As he's The President, all seem pretty scary.

    [Note: I said "mused/asked about", not "recommended" -- he absolutely did the former, but many think he said the latter.]

  • OK. That's good.

    • It must be hard working at The Onion right now. They're looking at the stupid stuff that Trump says on a weekly basis and they must be going "there's no point in even trying, we can't top that level of stupidity".

      • Ya, looking at their front page, I think they were like, 'well, he hasn't worn a top hat yet, I guess we can just stick that on him and run quotes.'

        I remember when the onion was ludicrous.

  • I'm surprised he hasn't kicked three quarters of the WH press corps to the curb.
    Hate him all you want, he's going to win in November and the response AGAIN will be bloody hilarious.

    It seems mental illness has a liberal bias.

    • Re:He'll Still Win in November (Score:5, Funny)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @04:57PM (#59990178)

      I'm surprised he hasn't kicked three quarters of the WH press corps to the curb. Hate him all you want, he's going to win in November and the response AGAIN will be bloody hilarious.

      It seems mental illness has a liberal bias.

      Please call 911 immediately, it appears you've ingested some disinfectant.

    • I'm surprised he hasn't kicked three quarters of the WH press corps to the curb.
      Hate him all you want, he's going to win in November and the response AGAIN will be bloody hilarious.

      When Trump loses it will be like Hitler losing WWII. Majority who supported him quietly walking away in embarrassment disavowing the whole misadventure and their role in it.

  • Sarce bleu!
    • Watch the video. Read the transcript. There was no hint of sarcasm. He was serious.

      • Watch the video. Read the transcript. There was no hint of sarcasm. He was serious.

        What you are looking at is the result of the Department of Homeland Security redoing the original CDC (and several universities) studies on COVID19 endurance on surfaces, to disinfectant, to UV, etc and the results being reported to Trump.

        For some reason, Homeland (or whoever they contracted this to) got results different by ORDERS of magnitude. In fact UNBELIEVABLY different. F.E. their result for virus survival at standard summer UV flux in mid-latitudes and 80% humidity (as in f.e. Washinton DC in summ

        • no he is genius, he knows that he only has to be right once by sheer luck and all the rest of it will be forgotten, denied, woven into a conversation about hillary's email server. So he'll take a swing at every wild thing that comes his way and then claim victory.

      • Watch the video. Read the transcript. There was no hint of sarcasm. He was serious.

        And in the end it doesn't even matter. Whether he actually meant it or is just unable to articulate clearly makes no difference. That people will do stupid things even if it is the latter says a lot on it's own.

  • The Darwin Awards [darwinawards.com] are going to add a "Death by Trump" chapter and it's going to be more sad than funny.

  • Trump doesn't recognize his power (Score:5, Insightful)

    by joe_frisch ( 1366229 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @05:01PM (#59990188)

    In some ways he is like a character in one of those stories what a normal human develops super powers and doesn't understand how to control them.

    Trump still doesn't seem to realize that when he speaks, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE are listening. Not all of those people are deep thinkers, or very bright or mentally stable. This is why traditionally presidents have used great care when speaking because they knew the effect of their words.

    Trump seems to just say whatever comes to mind, without realizing the extent of his audience. He doesn't seem to understand that he is not talking to a handfull of friends, or the employees of a small investment firm - he is talking to the world.

    • Trump is fully aware of the size of his audience, he even brags about it and complained when the Wall Street Journal didn't mention his great Covid ratings. https://thehill.com/homenews/a... [thehill.com]

      He is also aware of his influence, which is why he gives helpful medication tips, like try hydroxychloroquine "What do they have to use? I hope they use it."

      Trump realizes that he is talking to the world, and likes doing it. He just doesn't realize that he is much, much dumber than he needs to be to handle the situatio

      • Its working though I have not been folowing his covid breifings but I've watched clips of this one a couple of times now and I might tune in for more if they are going to be such comedy gold. SNL scriptwriters must be slipping him some cash on the side.

    • Trump still doesn't seem to realize that when he speaks, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE are listening.

      He knows this and has even bragged about the high ratings for his briefings.

      Not all of those people are deep thinkers, or very bright or mentally stable.

      He knows, and is depending on, this.

      He doesn't seem to understand that he is ... talking to the world.

      But he does know this, and relishes it.

    • he doesn't care. Whatever keeps his poll numbers at or around 44% so he has another shot at the Whitehouse in November. Nothing else matters. Not you. Not me. Not anyone reading this.

  • Lets rethink this... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sizzlinkitty ( 1199479 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @05:14PM (#59990248)

    This might come off harsh to some people but lets step back and look at the silver lining of Trumps statements. Some would argue, including myself, if people are not intelligent enough to know the president is full of shit and start drinking bleach, rubbing alcohol and other disinfectants, the world hasn't really lost anything of value when these people die. A mechanism to cull the weak is long overdue, we keep people alive that simply shouldn't have survived this long.

  • The kind of people that would try this aren't the kind of people we need in humanity's gene pool. I wonder of their Cause of Death will be listed as COVID-19?

  • Sarcastic: Marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey contempt.

    To what or whom was Trump attempting to mock? It was NOT sarcasm.

    He lies to cover lies. Trump is a terrible manager and role model. Trump never owns his mistakes or takes responsibility for anything. Trump will continue to lie and gaslight because his aides, supporters and Fox News never hold him accountable.

  • For those claiming sarcasm (Score:3)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @05:47PM (#59990376)

    Definition:

    1: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain
    2 a : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual

    So tell us, at what point was the con artist being sarcastic when he said:

    Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn't been checked but you're going to test it.
    And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, 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. Sounds interesting
    And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that? Like injection inside or almost a cleaning because, you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number in the lungs, so it'd be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.

    Was his giddy rambling in relation to the conversation he supposedly had asking someone else if this could be done now considered sarcasm? Because if so, it was directed at the person he was asking his inane questions, not the press to which he was relating the conversation he supposedly had.

  • There is no correlation to what Trump "asked" and this spike, which happened prior and does correlate to this pandemic; so more people are cleaning.

    I'm so incredibly tired of ALL of our media now days.

    • But the NPC's gotta "ORANGE MAN BAD". It's the only reason they still have subscribers.

      They're going to be so screwed whenever the next Democrat President comes along.

  • these people could be drinking bleach for any number of reasons. And Lysol posting to twitter that you shouldn't use their products internally was just a coincidence. I'm sure it was planned months in advance.

    • I know that it's hard to RTFA, but not ONE of these people drank anything. Every single case was exposure to fumes and skin spills... and the number of cases is directly in line with what we've seen since mid-March.

      The fact that you actually believe garbage like this is the best example that TDS is real.

  • I ingested ethanol every day for the last 4 weeks, to no ill effect.

  • Deflection (Score:3)

    by philmarcracken ( 1412453 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @06:23PM (#59990488)

    Interesting timing trump chooses to play dumb and create a media circus around this reports release:

    https://www.reuters.com/articl... [reuters.com]

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