Trump Does it Again :(
Pandemics are overwhelming and cause untold suffering. It’s understandable to have a bad day, week, or month because of COVID-19. But please, NEVER make yourself a trumptini.
Last week, President Donald Trump made a surprisingly asinine suggestion to medical officials: to study the effects of household disinfectant as a treatment to COVID-19. Doctors vehemently rejected his idea and made it clear that disinfectants are meant to clean surfaces, not treat disease.
It is important for the public to understand this, in addition to understanding the history of disinfectants during pandemics. This is not the first time that these chemicals have influenced a health crisis or the first time they were used as a form of political resistance to prudent medical advice.
Before the creation of Lysol, carbolic acid emerged as the first widely distributed disinfectant that could also be used to control the proliferation of disease. The negative effects of these chemicals were understood. That did not prevent the British Empire from forcing indigenous peoples in port cities in Asia and Africa from using these chemicals to control skin diseases. It was oppressive and harmful, as it still is today. It is an abuse of biopower.
Pandemics induce suffering, reveal structural failures, and can lead to the creation of new problems as well. They expose cultural attitudes and people’s differing beliefs on individual rights and faith in science.¹
1. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/26/opinions/disinfectant-has-a-dark-medical-history-le-zotte-steere-williams/index.html