CDC Says Poisonings From Cleaners & Disinfectants On Sharp Rise Since Pandemic Hit US

A month ago a shocking and dangerous trend in Iran hit headlines in the West. Amid the coronavirus outbreak in the Mideast country people were turning to drinking strong disinfectant, including industrial-grade ethanol and methanol, thinking this would prevent against COVID-19 infection. Recall too that a church in South Korea inadvertently infected 46 of its congregants by spraying salt water into their mouths – only they didn’t change or disinfect the spray bottle itself. 

And in the United States there’s at least one religious organization, which calls itself the “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing” which has made headlines by advocating drinking a bleach product as a “miracle cure”. 

According to a new report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a dramatic increase in poisonings nationwide may be due to increased ‘home remedy’ precautions involving disinfectants. The CDC also suggests this could be due to greater prolonged exposure to cleaning products used in higher concentrations to disinfect surfaces and homes. 

“Calls to poison control centers about exposures to cleaners and disinfectants increased 20 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2019,” the report indicated. Crucially, the sharpest increase in poison control center calls came in early March, which corresponds precisely to when coronavirus cases began exploding in the United States and consuming headlines. 

The Hill reports of the findings: “While the CDC said the data does not show a definite link between exposures and coronavirus cleaning efforts, the report said it seems likely the two are linked, given the number of stay-at-home orders, shortages of cleaning products, and guidance to clean hands and dirty surfaces.”

Thus Americans now risk negative health effects by extreme cleaning and health regimens around the home. A greater number of accidental consumption incidents involving cleaning products being in the vicinity of children is another major factor.

The report said bleach-containing products were behind the largest segment of poison control calls. Accidents involving hand sanitizers and children have also been on the rise. Inhalation of cleaning products also accounted for major increase in exposure, the CDC said.

“In one example, CDC reported a woman was taken to the emergency room after soaking her groceries in a sink full of a mixture of 10 percent bleach solution, vinegar and hot water,” The Hill reports of the CDC’s findings.  

And another example is related as follows: “a preschool-age child was admitted to the pediatric intensive care after ingesting an unknown amount of an ethanol-based hand sanitizer. The child was able to return home after 48 hours.”

American households have turned to wiping down and disinfecting all groceries and items brought into the home from the outside, but it appears some of the more extreme measures like heavy bleach-use on groceries could potentially be as hazardous as exposure to coronavirus itself.