Following&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/04/24/dettol-and-lysol-maker-warns-against-drinking-and-injecting-disinfectant-after-trump-suggestion/">a dangerous suggestion by Donald Trump that household disinfectants could be ingested</a>&nbsp;or injected to kill the coronavirus, Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of Lysol, immediately issued guidance on the matter.



“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 company said in a statement. “As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines.”



To be clear: Lysol is not medicine, and nor has it ever been safe to consume as if it were one. But what Lysol’s clarification in 2020 neglects to mention is that from the 1920s to the 1950s, the brand was telling a decidedly different story—that Lysol was a trusted “feminine hygiene” product, which, among other things, was a euphemism for contraception.



“She was a jewel of a wife&#8230; with just one flaw,” <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/lysols-vintage-ads-subtly-pushed-women-to-use-its-disinfectant-as-birth-control-218734/" target="_blank">reads one</a> ad from era. “She was guilty of the ‘ONE NEGLECT’ that mars many marriages. ‘LYSOL’ helps avoid this.” Admonishes <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/one-of-the-biggest-deceptions-in-advertising-history" target="_blank">another</a>, this one with a “firsthand” account from a resuscitated union: “Our romance is so special again—now that I know about proper feminine hygiene care! Since I had that talk with the doctor, I use Lysol always for douching.”



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-470x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44673" width="382" height="833" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-470x1024.jpg 470w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-300x654.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-600x1308.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-138x300.jpg 138w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-768x1674.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-705x1536.jpg 705w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4-939x2048.jpg 939w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/960x0-4.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px" /><figcaption>One of Lysol&#8217;s 1930&#8217;s-era ads marketing itself as a &#8220;feminine hygiene product. FLICKR </figcaption></figure></div>



That women’s private anatomy is inherently “unclean” is a misogynistic idea that is biblical in origin. But shaming women into pleasing their husbands isn’t the entire goal of these ads, either. As the author Andrea Tone notes in her 2002 book, “Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America,” douching was touted as an effective form of birth control (albeit more akin to the post-coital Plan B pill than the prophylactic daily pill) in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. And thanks to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Comstock-Act" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Comstock Act of 1873</a>, which classified contraception as “obscene and illicit,” douching products could not be advertised as birth control. And so “feminine hygiene” became a euphemism, as did words like “germicide” (which has the handy feature of rhyming with the word it’s replacing).



The implication of this dangerous marketing campaign? A wash of Lysol a day keeps the babies away. Except, not only did it fail to do this (a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/03/when-women-used-lysol-birth-control/" target="_blank">1933 study</a> of 507 women found that half who used douching as their contraception became pregnant anyway), but it was deadly. “By 1911, doctors had recorded 193 Lysol poisonings, including 21 suicides, 1 homicide and five deaths from uterine irrigation,” Tone writes in her book. A <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Citation/1956/09000/Lysol_Induced_Criminal_Abortion.18.aspx" target="_blank">1956 study</a> that examined “Lysol-Induced Criminal Abortion” had similar results, finding “phenol poisoning” as a contributing cause of death to one of the patients in the study. Phenol was then, and still is now, an ingredient in Lysol.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/0x800.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44674" width="220" height="555" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/0x800.jpg 317w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/0x800-300x757.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/0x800-119x300.jpg 119w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" /><figcaption>&#8220;Every modern woman should know facts about feminine hygiene,&#8221; says this 1930&#8217;s-era Lysol ad.  ALAMY PHOTO AGENCY</figcaption></figure></div>



Lysol, which at the time was manufactured by the firm Lehn &amp; Fink, changed its formula in the early 1950s to eliminate cresol, one of its harsher ingredients that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lysol-original-use-women_n_5aa6d689e4b03c9edfae9848" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">could cause</a>&nbsp;burning, inflammation and death.&nbsp;By the 1960s, Lysol advertising shifted to focus on its utility as a bathroom disinfectant; meanwhile, birth control became legal for married couples in 1965 and unmarried people in 1972. Lysol’s use as a contraceptive would slowly fade, as would its reputation as such.



Lysol’s current maker,&nbsp;Reckitt Benckiser, did not immediately respond to a&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;request for comment about Lysol’s days as an internal feminine hygiene product. Then again, even the president walked back his bizarre disinfectant recommendation during a task force meeting on&nbsp;Friday in the Oval Office. Trump claimed he was “asking a questions sarcastically to reporters just to see what would happen.”



But his message had already been heard loud and clear. As <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1253697753479331840" target="_blank">Hillary Clinton tweeted</a> shortly before the president cleaned up his Lysol mess: “Please don’t poison yourself because Donald Trump thinks it would be a good idea.”



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/">Maggie McGrath, </a>Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbeswomen">ForbesWomen</a>

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Lysol Shouldn’t Be Ingested To Combat Coronavirus, But It Was Once Advertised As Birth Control

The Ebola virus is spreading across Africa, taking fear with it.
“They say Ebola has no cure. The unknown has arrived. Nobody knows how to deal with this Ebola, not even the government!” John-Thomas Mensah, an Accra-based taxi driver tells FORBES AFRICA in the Ghanaian capital.
The Ebola scourge has spawned new social rules, with people being told they are not allowed to hug or shake hands. New superstitions have arisen, with some believing that drinking or bathing with salty water and eating the West African plant, bitter kola, will treat the disease. Some businesses are cashing in on the rush for disinfectants, soaps and hand sanitizers.
In August, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the West Africa Ebola outbreak a public health emergency. It triggered global alarm as countries stepped up precautions and testing. It is the largest Ebola outbreak to date and began in Guinea in March. Liberia has been the worst hit, with 70% of the casualties. Ebola has infected nearly 2,500 and claimed 1,427 lives, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria recorded 5 deaths as at the end of August.
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Beyond medicine, the epidemic has dampened business and left the informal economy, that fuels West Africa’s cross-border commerce, in a coma. Millions of West Africans are traveling traders and workers who crisscross the region’s porous borders for their daily bread.
Nigeria, which accounts for around 168 million of West Africa’s 260 million people, has not shut its borders, but almost every other country in the region has stopped border traffic, all in a bid to restrict the spread of Ebola.
Airlines discontinued flights to and from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and neighboring countries. Freight rates to West Africa are expected to rise as ship owners avoiding the region are choosing to berth at alternative ports. In mid-August, a Chinese-flagged ship heading out of Sierra Leone to Cape Verde had its crew quarantined in Sao Vicente.
The Ebola scare has also reared its ugly head in South Africa. The most worrying was a patient in August who displayed low risk symptoms and was admitted to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital as a precaution. Luckily, the patient tested negative for Ebola at the special diseases ward at the hospital.
&#8220;The patient is in isolation and there is no need for the general public to panic. He will not be put in contact with another patient. He is in isolation, in a special ward that deals with hemorrhagic fever,&#8221; says Joe Maila, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.
Eleven hospitals across South Africa were issued with protective gear in preparation for any possible outbreak, says Maila.
East Africa is also taking precautions.
The health sector there is poorly funded and all member states agree that they need to coordinate efforts to keep Ebola at bay. Little of this is evident on the ground.
Uganda has suffered from Ebola in the past and claims it is well prepared. Together with Rwanda and Burundi, Uganda borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has confirmed strains of the virus.
The region is on high alert and any slight indication of the virus in these countries may lead to the type of isolation experienced in West Africa. Business, including East Africa’s fledging oil and gas sector, will be hit hard.
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WHO classified Kenya as a high-risk area because of the number of flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the infected countries. Kenya Airways, the third largest carrier on the continent, is feeling the pinch after suspending some of its flights to West Africa. RwandAir and Ethiopian Airways are yet to follow suit but promise stringent surveillance.
Help has come from far and near. The United States’ (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has about 60 disease detectives and other health experts in the region. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has reportedly committed $14.5 million. The Wellcome Trust and Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) have also announced a joint $10.8-million emergency research fund.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, through his Dangote Foundation, has given $3.2 million to the Ebola Emergency Operation Centre in Lagos, where the nation’s first case of Ebola was diagnosed in Liberian-American national Patrick Sawyer who died in a Lagos hospital four days after arriving from Liberia.
Despite these measures, and assurances by the WHO and local authorities, sections of the international community continue to fear that Ebola could spread across the vast African continent. With multinationals placing travel restrictions to West Africa, trips to Africa are either being postponed or canceled. The tourism sector in East and Southern Africa has been the hardest hit.
Ebola is not going away in a hurry.

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Lysol Shouldn’t Be Ingested To Combat Coronavirus, But It Was Once Advertised As Birth Control

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