What Are Some Uses for Dettol?
Dettol is commonly used to clean cuts and wounds and can be used to disinfect household surfaces as well as freshen up linen by adding some to a rinse cycle. When cleaning skin surfaces such as cuts, Dettol should be diluted as it can be toxic, even by inhalation.
There are different Dettol products including surface cleaning wipes, surface cleanser sprays, hand sanitizer, hand wash, body wash and antiseptic liquid. Dettol suggest cleaning all food preparation surfaces with their products before and immediately after using raw foods including meat, fish, poultry and eggs. The company also suggests cleaning anything that may have been touched during the handling of raw foods, such as refrigerator door handles, cupboard door handles and taps, with disinfectant wipes.
Dettol can be highly toxic to many animals, but particularly cats. The toxins found in Dettol, when consumed by cats, cannot be eliminated from their body. It can be consumed by pets easily by walking over a Dettol-cleaned surface and then cleaning its paws. In Australia, it has been banned as an agent used for pest control since 2011. It is also toxic to humans when ingested or inhaled. In Britain, in 2007, a 42-year old man died of Dettol overexposure, however it is unknown whether this was through ingestion or inhalation.