Death by Lysol

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

From the Wikipedia article about Lysol:

“The first Lysol Brand Antiseptic Disinfectant was introduced in 1889 by Gustav Raupenstrauch to help end a cholera epidemic happening in Germany. The original formulation of Lysol contained cresols.[2] This formulation may still be available commercially in some parts of the world.[3] Formulations containing chlorophenol are still available in the United Kingdom.[4]

In 1911, poisoning by drinking Lysol was the most common means of suicide in Australia and New York.”[

2

Drinking Lysol does sound bad. Yikes!! I’m not a biochemist but know that’s always a bad idea.

3

Lysol was also used as a feminine hygiene product, and sometimes as a home abortion solution, until it started killing women. From the same Wikipedia article.

4

Yeah, I saw that listed on the bottle as one of its uses in 1979. I was stunned.

5

Don’t be dissing my favorite.

I love the little brown bottle. The smell makes me sick and happy at the same time.

(Mine contains some gibberish phenyl-chlor ?¿..sumthin sumthin)

Nice big warning not for human consumption. Or to use for personal hygiene. Yeah, nope. You don’t need to insist.

6

You mean I can’t drink it even if I’m trying to protect myself from Covid? I guess I’ll have to stick to bleach.

7

Ooh. New mixers!! :grinning_face:

8

The amount that would lead to an abortion also often killed the mother as well. It WAS a quasi-birth control method.

It was also used in STD treatment in the pre-antibiotic era. Women were given a douche of a tablespoon or so in a gallon or two of the hottest water they could stand, and men had their urethras flushed with the straight product. Yeeeeeowtch!