The Strange Story of Lysol | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and that's just. us I almost said Jerry's here too but. she's not instead it's just us I already. said that too uh and this is stuff you. should know that's right and this uh was. a listener suggestion MH so we wanted to. thank Holland. lameir who wrote in and said uh guys I.

don't know if you anything about know. anything about the history of Lysol the. disinfectant but it has a pretty. fascinating weird history and I think it. would make a good episode and I think. Holland was right on the money yeah also. thanks to our buddy Kyle hookstra our. British writer holding it down in the UK. for us who helped us out with this one. too that's right I love Kyle's uh. articles because they are all. metric and there's even some some quaint.

British spellings he's like I'm not. going to americanize it for you trumps. just yeah figure it out oh you like your. z's Ts for you here's an. S aluminium yeah so um yeah so we're. talking today about Lysol who was that. Holland great name yeah Holland. suggested this uh and for those of you. who don't know um Lysol is a leading. disinfectant brand in the west I think. it's like the third bestselling. disinfectant in the United States.

it's Lysol you know what I'm talking. about right I do sure I think most. people do I think so and Lysol had a. recent. um uh I guess a a big jolt in its. history as most disinfectant did uh. thanks to the pandemic the covid. pandemic of 2020 and 2021 where it sales. just went through the roof oh apparently. it increased its sales by 12% in um just.

one year uh and they were producing 35. million cans just the cans of Lysol in. North America alone every month that's. how crazy people were for Lysol um and. yet when pandemic went away people kind. of put their lice all the away as well. and their sales started to go down and. as we'll see that's actually kind of a. good thing. probably yeah uh and this is not a. takedown or anything this is just we're. going to talk about some interesting. history we talk a little bit about how.

how how all disinfectants work and um we. might even suggest some. Alternatives bet your sweet. pippy so uh the question of why do you. want to disinfect something in your. house in the first place is. valid uh well is because if you um. subscribe to The Germ Theory then you. might think that uh disinfecting uh. surfaces um might kill a virus that. might be in your house.

so that's a that's a reason right there. for sure I mean that's the point of. disinfectants right um and the way let's. talk real quick about how they actually. work because I find this fascinating. yeah it's it's on a cellular level right. sure so um there's a bunch of different. ingredients in disinfectants like Lysol. uh but some of them are more active than. others but you can't Overlook one in. favor of another because when you turn. around and look you're like oh that does. this that does this that kills this that. kills this but if you put all of it.

together you have a disinfectant that. can kill microbes that can kill um. viruses a lot of them are antifungal. they're just they just kill like you. said on a cellular level and uh one of. the ways that they do that one of the. main ways they do it is by disrupting. whatever outer layer that microbe or. that virus has that protects its innards. and by doing that its innards spill out. go through all sorts of horrible. Transformations and the um the the. bacteria your virus is like uh A2.

Lysol that's right uh and Lysol works. like you know all disinfectants uh by. doing that but Lysol specifically uh. developed one of the first uh quats. quats we've talked about quats before in. terms of like pesticides I think. probably oh yeah I feel like we' we've. talked about that okay I believe you I. just doesn't S familiar okay um but they. introduced a quat in its formula um in.

the 1880s a long long time ago uh quats. are um it's short for uh it's actually. technically qac but it's spelled out qu. a because it's a quinary ammonium. compound and what they introduced in the. 1880s was one called uh benzil conium. chloride uh pretty active ingredient. these days in. disinfectants uh very potent all quats. are very potent against um germs at.

pretty low concentrations I think is uh. about 2 uh 2.4% is a sweet spot M but. like you said you combine these with. other stuff and you're in business uh in. this case if you combine it with alcohol. uh there's a change that happens that. makes it kill things faster kill more. things and uh Lysol doesn't use that one. anymore they use a different one now. though right yeah it's a it's evolved. into benzal conium saccharinate.

I think that's right um and it's. essentially just almost a proprietary. version of benzo Al conium balconi. chloride right um but it's just. different enough as we'll see that it. makes Lysol kind of its own thing um and. like you said they add alcohol and. alcohol itself is a a germ killing. machine especially with viruses because. it just it it cuts right through the. viral envelope and lets all the DNA. spill out or RNA and uh the viruses.

don't like that kind of thing one of the. other things that happens too when the. quat and ethanol combine they undergo a. synergistic change essentially and they. do all sorts of nasty stuff specifically. they denature cells which means that. they break the chemical bonds that hold. the the the molecules together and again. that's not good if you're a bacteria. yeah so like it the cell wall kind of. dissolves and then like you said. everything spills out and then those. proteins are just busted up yeah they.

coagulate different proteins coagulate. which renders them totally useless it's. not like they can go back to how they. were like the the poor bacterium's. probably trying to keep its guts in and. yet they're useless even if it could. patch itself. up uh yeah and a couple of things if. you're talking about the effectiveness. of a. disinfectant um is concentration and uh. and the contact time so uh there has to. be what's called an mic or a minimum. inhibitory.

concentration uh I think we said 2.4% is. like a is the low concentration end. where it's still potent uh in the case. of Lysol uh and then the contact time if. you if you read the um I'm not even. saying just Lysol but if you read any. disinfectant you may see in five fine. print something like you know spray and. leave it on there for four to 10 minutes. yeah LOL wipes depending on which one. you have it's four minutes or 10 minutes. crazy yeah and a lot of people um don't.

know this and so if they use something. like this in their house we don't but if. you do you might just spray it and wipe. it off right afterward thinking you're. accomplishing something you're not no I. I read an interview with a. microbiologist who was saying like when. I clean my house like this like say I'll. spray a door knob I just let it sit for. a minute before I wipe it off um and. usually with the spray a minute will do. it but the the point is it's not like it. just immediately disrupts all germs or.

microbial life that it encounters on. contact it takes a a couple minutes for. it to really do its job essentially yeah. for sure well you want to take an early. break or yeah let's do it okay we're. going to take an early break and then. we'll come back and talk about the. history of. [Music]. Lysol stuff you should know.

[Music]. so um Chuck I believe Holland said that. Lysol has a very interesting history and. Holland was right um and it's a pretty. old history too I think it was invented. in. 1889 by Gustav. renout nice yeah did I get it pretty.

dang good buddy Z. good well oh thank you very much and he. was a German chemist um and he was like. you know we've got all sorts of. infectious diseases um most people call. them diseases and but he just spoke. really strangely and he said I'm going. to come up with something to help uh. specifically in the medical setting a. disinfectant that's going to save lives. that's right uh Lysol in those days was.

50%. crol uh in soap basically saponified. vegetable oil um I kind of figured that. was like Lie from soap and soul from the. Creole was is where you got Lysol but. that's not right either is it no and as. a matter of fact I have not seen a. definitive answer Oh I thought you uh. sent me something I did and then I saw. other stuff elsewhere that undermined it. oh I gota the one that I'm on is that. the LIE is short for Lis which is.

basically like destroying a cell and. then the sa is short for. solvent H that's the what I'm on but. again there's different interpretations. what's the one I sent you do you. remember uh isn't that what you sent me. or no maybe okay maybe there's not other. interpretations I've just totally lost. my mind and that's it it may be it uh it. was toxic back then with that mixture um. creol.

uh was a germ killer and it was less. poisonous what they had been using to. disinfect things like hospitals at the. time which was carbolic acid um so it. was a little bit better version of that. but it was it was like a a brown a very. brown color um and it it kind of uh kind. of became the the go-to antiseptic uh in. the late 1800s for the medical community. yeah um a 1893 report said let's defend. ourselves and our homes against the. homicidal microb exclamation point even.

and the British medical journal was on. board that one's still around that's how. legit this is um they were like yeah use. it on your skin it'll treat lupus uh but. beware because if you use it too much. it's kind of costic and it can crack. your skin um and for the longest time. essentially from invention until the. 19s um the people who bought this stuff. were medical professionals and they. bought it in the ultra concentrated form.

I think you like the smallest bottle. would turn into two gallons when you. mixed it together with water like you. were supposed to then so on and so forth. and it was just a it was what they used. for cleaning wounds and all sorts of. stuff like it was like the original back. tee but way more costic yeah yeah um. things change in 1912 or started to. change in. 1912 uh when the AMA Council on Pharmacy. and chemistry um said you know a lot of.

these patients are screaming when we put. it on their skin uh it's burning them. clearly because we have eyes and ears. and this this might be too dangerous for. human use so maybe we shouldn't use it. in hospitals um Lyn and thinkink who. were making Lysol at the time were like. oh crap um this is our big Market here. is marketing to these hospitals right uh. and so here's what we'll do we'll. reposition it in the marketplace and. through advertising as something uh for.

home use and for use on um women's. reproductive. organs. yes yes let's talk about that. because there is essentially no point in. the history of Lysol that it should ever. have been used on women's reproductive. organs and yet when they lost that. market of selling directly to hospitals. who knew that the field of medicine had. its own journals and that they would. start talking amongst themselves um they.

essentially created uh they they red. debuted their product as a. contraceptive uh and at the time this. was not completely off-the-wall um using. a vaginal douche as a contraceptive. there's no way for me to say that and. not feel like I'm talking about a guy a. guy you know what I mean yeah it's. really taking over yeah it has um that. this was this was like the main way that. that people prevented birth and didn't. even work very well but this was like.

all they had at the time. essentially yeah uh it was contraception. well this is sort of one of the early. ironies is um you could sell Lysol as a. cleaner um you know those influenza in. the early 1900s and 19 teens so like it. was it was doing great there uh but you. you could not Market it uh legally as a. contraceptive not because it was. dangerous and didn't work but because. contraceptive were illegal uh in the US.

and Canada from the late 19th century uh. 1873 with a Comstock act here in the US. uh birth control eventually was. legalized in 1965 if you were married uh. if you wanted to have sex out of. marriage and not get pregnant you had to. wait until. 1972 to get that approval one year after. I was born which is. shocking um so from 1919 all the way. through the. 1960s They promoted Lysol as an illegal.

contraceptive under the the banner of. the mythological term feminine hygiene. right and so the just because they used. that term and never said this is a. contraceptive they uh instead said it. with like a wink and a nudge like we all. know what we're talking about right and. consumers did know they they were well. aware that what Lysol was saying is like. if you uh use this after sex it's gonna.

kill anything inside right so don't even. worry about all this stuff it's it's. your contraceptive and. Lysol Lysol became the number one. contraceptive in the United States from. the 1930s through the 1960s Chuck Lysol. douching with Lysol was what most people. in the United States used as a. contraceptive for 30 years yeah and by. the way I want to clear up real quick uh.

when I said the mythological concept of. feminine hygiene I don't mean people. shouldn't wash their body parts of. course sure I'm talking about this idea. of feminine hygiene products and. douching and douching as a contraceptive. and all that stuff was as far as I can. tell a creation like a marketing. creation yeah what's ironic about it is. that because um the you're using Lysol. again as a dude.

you're killing off all of the beneficial. bacteria in the vagina to begin with so. you actually are creating the problems. that that feminine hygiene products were. supposed to cure or help so it they the. the market actually created Itself by. this just the introduction of this it's. nuts it's terrible it's essentially. taking advantage of. um insecure midcentury American women. through a really um harsh marketing.

campaign that lasted for decades oh yeah. let's talk about some of that um there's. a historian named uh Kristen Hall who. looked at you know just dozens and. dozens of these Lysol advertisements. from the day M uh and here are just a. few examples uh in the married woman the. cleansing antiseptic douche should. follow married relations Lysol is the. right antiseptic for this delicate. purpose um the word germ was sort of a. standin for Seaman in many cases uh they.

had they had ads that are just so. clearly trying to exploit like you said. um like the idea that marital life is. the only way to go and uh a clean woman. in in the kitchen is one that will. appeal to her husband for. intercourse um like uh this one it. showed a woman literally trapped in an. ad uh trapped in a cobweb that said was. spun by my husband's indifference and.

until she's freed by using Lysa to. address careless risks uh then you know. dot dot dot she won't get sex from her. husband yeah so what the ad was. essentially saying is her husband's like. I'm not having another kid I'd rather. just go without sex than have another. kid and the wife is like but I want sex. and lysol's like let us step in you. start using Lysol or you tell your. husband you're going to use Lysol he'll. be all over you like white on rice yeah. basically and if you're if you don't use.

Lysol uh you're not going to have sex. anymore and be happy in your marriage. exactly um so this was like the. marketing campaign that Lysol came up. with to get women to use Lysol as a. contraceptive and it should be noted. that they at the same time they were. marketing it as a disinfectant for your. house right so it would be exactly like. buying a jug of Lysol and and using it. to clean your kitchen and then using it. as a contraceptive the same jug that was.

essentially what was going on for these. decades well yeah and like you mentioned. earlier it it Not only was uh dangerous. as we'll see but it didn't work um they. had uh there was a study from 1933 so. this is even back then they knew right. and they found um uh basically half 250. of the 507 women who used Lysol as a uh. uh contraceptive douche became pregnant. uh and in the 1930s there were these two. doctors Sarah K Greenberg and Rachel.

Lynn Palmer that said lysol's claims. would be laughable were it not for the. tragedy of the many women who have. become pregnant and but not just get. pregnant they were also like scarring. their vaginas internally um at the very. least inflaming them some women died. because if you absorb some of these. things like uh. qacs um and some of the other chemicals. I'm sure probably ethanol as well into. your body through the very um porous.

vaginal tissue you can die from. poisoning from Lysol poisoning and and. women were dying at the very at least. hundreds were ending up in in the. hospital from it as well yeah and if. that's not bad enough uh because of crol. the crol in the Lysol uh it was used for. illegal abortions um well into the 20th. century right um and so like you said. from the 30s they were it was being. criticized ized by the medical community.

yet it just wasn't reaching out to the. public at large yet and it wasn't until. the 60s that people stopped using Lysol. as a contraceptive almost overnight and. what happened the next day when they. stopped using Lysol was that the pill. had just been introduced and as it. became legal and widespread and people. started to be like this actually works. they stopped using Lysol immediately. yeah so Lysol didn't stop being used as. a a contra vaginal contraceptive because.

it it was um the word spread that it was. dangerous it didn't work it stopped. because the pill came along exactly. which is really hard to believe really. is um I'll tell you something that's not. hard to believe Chuck is let's take our. second break o another early one I love. [Music]. it Stu you should know.

[Music]. all right so uh we're back Lysol uh if. you remember from act two I guess um the. the fact that it was not viable as a. means of birth control um after the pill. came along or really before actually in. truth um meant that it to change their. tune yet again uh it gained some.

ubiquity uh being referenced in a Sylvia. Plath poem The Colossus in the 1950s it. was um it was just a something that. seems like it's always been around there. have been different forms of it over the. years you know that disinfectant spray. has been around since the 60s uh 60s I. think uh they started cleaning toilets. with it in the 60s uh eventually they. started having the the hand soaps and. disinfecting wipes and stuff like that. uh but they were like how do we sell.

this stuff uh in an age where the. FTC um basically is endorsing or says. that you know your claims have to be. true you can't be misled uh the harm. can't outweigh the benefit and stuff. like that like where what's the New Path. forward right so essentially because of. this stuff um and like disinfectants. like Lysol and other other brands. started just tinkering with their. formulas and looking for things that.

were as effective or more effective but. less toxic like for example in 1952 they. Dro crol for Ortho. hydroxyphenol which is a quarter as. toxic as. crol um but I mean you start doing that. it's it's like you these little little. adjustments here there you start making. significant gains in lowering toxicity. um the thing is it still is hazardous to. your health depending depending on how. you're exposed to it and what.

concentration you're exposed to yeah for. sure and obviously a time when you heard. a lot more about this kind of thing was. during like you mentioned earlier the. onset of the pandemic from. covid-19 uh people were buying a lot. more disinfectant uh and know you said. there was a 12.3 um uh increase in sales. that uh just dollars wise equates to. about four billion bucks American bucks. yeah so it's a lot of money so you know. obviously with this stuff uh being used.

like people were disinfecting everything. um the CDC was getting a lot more calls. about people going to the hospital from. poisoning uh just because it's round. more there were plenty of uh stories. where people would um use disinfectants. on like on their food itself right um. putting it on their skin uh at one point. uh former president Trump on live on the. air uh pondered whether injecting. disinfectants could cure Corona virus. uh so there's just a lot of um overuse.

of this kind of stuff at the time. because of covid yeah and he didn't name. check Lysol he said disinfectants but. Lysol and other companies that make. disinfectants issue press releases. basically immediately saying like don't. ingest disinfectants in any way shape or. form they're still toxic and these. companies didn't say they're still very. toxic but depending on who you ask they. they can be pretty toxic one of the. things that Lysol did get a boost from. though was remember I said that. qac is um almost proprietary the benzol.

conium saccharate yeah well it's just. different enough from the other versions. of that that Lysol was able to submit. itself its formula to the CDC for. testing on killing covid and the CDC was. like all good so now co could be like. recommended Lysol specifically. recommended by the CDC for you know the. pandemic and that was one of the things. that that led to Lysol specifically in.

this huge boom in sales was a pretty. smart little marketing maneuver no. absolutely so uh Big Boon for sales. obviously but in 2021 the CDC came out. and we're like hey you know this. obsessive disinfecting is um maybe. getting out of hand and may have long-. lasting consequences uh and this is. where we you know we get to talk about. something that we've talked about on the. show before which uh I always you know. think is kind of super interesting um.

which is the fact that when you. disinfect something like that you're. killing good germs and bad germs and. there is the hypothesis of uh the fact. that you know like friendly. microorganisms are good for the body uh. especially in childhood to help you. build up a more robust immune system so. you're not just walking around in a. completely sanitized situation at all. times and then when you encounter. something in the real world uh all of a.

sudden you're getting sick more often. and maybe even worse yeah and yeah like. you said even worse and that that. hygiene hypothesis is supported by this. idea that because these kids are growing. up in overly sanitary conditions in like. the industrialized World um they are. more prone by far to autoimmune diseases. which are diseases that the body is. attacking the wrong stuff proteins. tissues things that shouldn't be attack. attacking so you've got things like um.

food allergies type 1 diabetes multiple. sclerosis all of them are much higher. prevalence in the west than they are in. less developed countries um I think Kyle. found a a study that found that in the. west preschool children can um have up. to 10% of a class can have food. allergies but in mainland China you're. going to find something like 2% and that. type 1 diabetes which is your um your. body your immune system is attacking.

your insulin producing pancreas 62 out. of every 100,000 kids in Finland an. industrialized country has Type 1. diabetes but. 6.2 like 10 a tenth out of every 100,000. children in Mexico have it and then 05. of every 100,000 have it in Pakistan so. all that goes to show all these and tons. of other studies suggest that because. we're cleaning too much our kids are. developing autoimmune diseases and we. need to expose them to more germs yeah.

that is a a version of What's called the. old friends hypothesis which is um if. you're a young kid in your early years. and your formative years uh if you have. regular exposure to harmless. microbes um then you're going to be. better off in the long run and if that's. really limited because you're. disinfecting your entire house. constantly um you're you're going to. suffer for it because the you know there. are arguments uh this guy named Graham. Rook is one of the proponents um argues.

that your immune system needs this. exposure to diverse microbes so your. body knows how to recognize a threat. when it sees it yeah and he was saying. this gram rook in particular he's a. bacteriologist from University College. of London um he's saying there's. specific microbes that the human immune. system has co-evolved with and that. we're killing them through disinfectant. and that those are the ones that train. our immune systems how to be and that. without them that's why we're getting.

the autoimmune diseases and yeah again. it's like a riff on the hygiene. hypothesis it almost takes it and like. makes it more specific I think yeah. they've done some more research uh. speaking of Finland uh they took stool. samples they took little poopy pellets. from kids in Finland Estonia and Russia. uh and found that in the uh in Finland. which is you know super industrialized. at this point in Estonia uh they did not. have uh eer.

eera I don't know eoli I know that's. what most people call it yeah I'll just. call it ecoli I was trying to be fancy. uh that activates a response from the. immune system but had uh bacteria uh. bacterio species that inhibits the. immune system so not only did it not. have what you needed to activate the. immune response you had something that. inhibits it right so again there's a lot. of research to support this kind of. stuff that we are over cleaning and in.

particular in the United States um we. have a a particular obsession with. cleanliness um and we overdo it. essentially and again just like with. lysol's advertising Blitz in the 20s and. 30s that got women to use Lysol as a. contraceptive based on their. insecurities um we're marketed to like. there's germs everywhere your kids's. gonna get sick your kid is sneezing on. things they got to clean the entire. house and not just clean but disinfect.

and it seems to be if the hygiene. hypothesis and Old Friends hypothesis. are correct it's the disinfecting part. that's the problem that if we just. cleaned you know and and kept things. tidy we would those good microbes would. um would be around and when we are. exposed to them we don't have to worry. as much about the other microbes that. are harmful because our immune systems. are primed to take care of those things. a little more that's right and I know. I've mentioned it before it is 100%.

anecdotal I'm not disputing that but uh. we have never been big uh o overly. disinfectant as a. household uh we have let my daughter be. dirty stay dirty MH and she's one of the. healthiest kids I've ever known in my. life uh again purely anecdotal but uh. who knows I think U maybe we're just. lazy but it it feels like it feels like. we've done right by her because she just. does not get sick much that's awesome.

man yeah yeah the the that hygiene. hypothesis I just love it it's so. intuitive it's so like folksy and homey. it's I just love it so I hope it's. correct I hope it doesn't ever get. overturned yeah I mean what did we do. when we were kids we rolled around in. the dirt uh our parents weren't bothered. to to care or you know maybe we got to. wash your hands before dinner kind of. thing but mhm maybe not even yeah no for. sure and I mean the generation after us.

where we started cleaning more and more. with disinfectants that's when. autoimmune diseases really started to. pick up it's just the circumstantial. evidence is overwhelming essentially. yeah um there's some other stuff too um. like I said some people are like yeah. this stuff is still toxic so be careful. with it um some people are saying like. okay it depends on the concentration. that you're exposed to um Lysol that's. super concentrated that you're supposed. to dilute that is very dangerous stuff. there's endocrine disruptors in there.

there's um antifreeze in there uh you. can breathe it in you can um absorb it. through your skin just undiluted Lysol. or concentrated Lysol is dangerous but. what's called ready to use the stuff you. buy in the bottle that you just start. spraying MH that is so diluted that it's. um it's more toxic effects are are well. they're diluted essentially so some. people say it's not really a problem to.

use Lysol other people are like it. depends on the context if you spray. Lysol airspray in a closed room you. don't want to be in there to breathe it. in because it's going to mess your lungs. up pretty good uh other people are like. it like we know that these this this. exposure to um Lysol right then is not. harmful but there's not enough studies. on what's called um chronic low-level. exposure like just using it over and. over and over again for years what does.

that do to the body and so we need to. study that kind of stuff more. unfortunately there are people in the. government who are working against that. kind of stuff and introducing bills that. are like not only do we not want to to. combat this we want to we want to make. disinfectant manufacturers um we want to. make it easier for them to just cover up. what they're using as ingredients so. people can't study them yeah what was. that um I saw it sort of I mean it.

seemed like it was directly influenced. from the lobby from these companies but. who uh who was it that introduced that. bill that basically said like hey you. know what you shouldn't have to um say. what ingredients are in your product. yeah uh Indiana representative Congress. person Larry buan introduced a bill in. October 23. 2023 still doesn't have a name uh. weirdly it doesn't even have a number so. I guess it's not gotten very far so far. but what it represents is a real.

disruption in the disinfected industry. because California passed a law that was. really hardcore about telling everybody. what's in your products as disinfectants. and there was a big kind of stakeholder. back and forth between disinfect. infected manufacturers and the. government of California to kind of come. to this consensus like okay we'll abide. by California's law if essentially. everywhere in the United States but the.

rest of the states have to promise that. they're not going to make any laws that. are even tougher than California we're. all going to agree that this California. law is a compromise and so this Federal. Bill preempts the California law so it. undo all that negotiation so some. companies including the makers of Lysol. are like yes let's support that bill but. other companies like Clorox have come. forward and they're like we're opposed. to this bill we already went through. this whole process we came to a. compromise and this could conceivably.

open up the the case for States later on. to come up with even worse bills or. stricter bills than the California one. so it's a it's a big deal actually in. the disinfectant industry right now and. it's kind of up in the air which way. it'll go oh I'm sure um another thing. that's uh a potential future well the. future is kind of now because already. being used but uh germicidal ultraviolet. light. guv uh is something a lot of people are. fairly hot on um. UV uh rays and things like that we know.

can be or UV light can be dangerous. that's why we use uh sunblock and stuff. like that uh but this is a different. kind of UV this is called far UV um they. are applied in uh very specifically. short wavelengths so it's not uh. penetrating like regular UV and I even. bought one of those uh little UV cases. that you put your cell phone in during. the pandemic oh yeah I've got too yeah I. I think I used it twice oh really and.

recently donated it uh it just never. caught on in my house but um you know. you got to be careful with these things. because they you could buy like a UV. wand to just wave over your doorknob at. home but uh may not be far UV and a lot. the FDA is like hey be careful with. these things that you're buying because. uh UV um light can be super dangerous as. well yeah to your skin to your eyes is. essentially you know over longterm. exposure who who knows cancer probably.

um but this this far UV because the. wavelengths are so small they're like. this can't penetrate skin or the cornea. essentially so it's it will kill all the. germs all the bacteria in the air that's. the other benefit of it too Chuck is. like if you and I are talking and one of. us has covid and I cough in a room that. has a correct uh setup for far UV um guv. germ UV like you said it'll kill that. stuff before you can breathe it in yeah.

so it has a really great like benefit. and application but it can also still be. dangerous because what they figured out. is that even far UV creates ozone and. ozone can interact with other particles. in the air creating air pollution. essentially inside your house yeah and. that's not good that's not good at all. no so they're grappling with it Emily. when uh she had her business you use and. we still use this at home sometime is.

she would just make her own she called. it alkalol orange it was just alcohol. with uh orange essential oil to help it. smell good right and would just uh use. that on like the tables and stuff when. she had stainless steel tables when she. was manufacturing stuff yeah and I'm. sure she added water too but. um I did not realize this until. researching this alcohol by itself is. not as effective in killing viruses or. destroying viruses as alcohol and water.

is it does something to to um enhance. the action of the alcohol isn't that. fascinating yeah and remember during. covid we uh did some episodes sort of. around that that where we were like you. know washing your hands with soap is. more effective than using the. alcohol-based. uhh hand sanitizer yeah because it binds. to it and washes it off right that's. right um that is something I need to get. over it's very clear to me developed a. real severe case of germaphobia during.

Co oh really and it's gotten much better. much better um but it's still present. like I'll grab a paper towel and use. that to pump gas with and then use. alcohol on my hands afterward and like. there's just stuff I should not be doing. and researching this made me realize. like I need to mellow out yeah yeah well. that's good but I I don't use uh hand. sanitizer and never really have but I do. uh will use that paper towel if they.

have them at the gas station CU I don't. want grubby gas smell on me uh that's. not why I'm doing it and I and I will. grab one on my way out of a like a. especially like an airport bathroom I. I'll grab a paper towel or the paper. towel that I've used to um dry my hands. I might uh use that on the door handle. cuz that's I think that's why they keep. that trash can right by the door as well. right yeah exactly yes so I do like that. there's not if there's not paper towels. and you ever open the bathroom door in a.

public restroom and I suddenly pop out. around you it's because I've been. standing there waiting for somebody to. open the door CU I won't let myself. touch the door handle I just can't I. can't do it or if I'm the guy who like. holds the door for you with his foot and. it's like oh sorry and runs off that's. okay I think a lot of people do stuff. like that that's just you know. especially like in airports you know. people are traveling all over their. place I don't think there's anything. wrong with that. no but yeah I just need to be less.

delicate I think I think it would be. better for me psychologically and. healthwise too yeah maybe get just some. of that worry out of the old brain. exactly exactly what's the worst that's. going to happen I could die of norovirus. who. cares oh man I'd have to find a new. co-host don't do that like I said who. cares um Chuck are you got anything else. mm okay well that's it for Lysol. everybody thanks again to Holland thanks. again for to Kyle for helping us out.

with this and uh since I just Nam check. Kyle again it's time for listener. mail uh I'm going to call this just a. very kind thank you uh Hey guys want to. say thanks for doing what you do your. humor intellect and open-mindedness have. been an inspiration for me for many. years I started listening back in 09. when I was traveling uh back and forth. between Gainesville and Tallahasse. Florida to visit my college girlfriend. uh when I graduated I continued. listening through med school uh when. driving to rotations visiting my med.

school girlfriend and anytime I could. find a break uh during the monotony of. studying I still listen regularly during. my residency In Obstetrics and. Gynecology especially when driving to. the satellite hospitals I worked at uh. and of course flying back to Florida to. visit my residency girlfriend things are. progressing you notice this yeah for. both is it the same girlfriend do you. think yeah I mean things are progressing. romantically and professionally for this. couple gotcha it's a great story uh I.

finished residency in 2018 still listen. almost every day when I'm driving to the. hospital or my office where I work as an. OBGYN uh married that residency. girlfriend nice and we have three. beautiful kids who are in med school no. uh just kidding twin boys uh and our. seven-month-old baby girl uh listen to. all the episodes at once listen to the. end of the world with Josh Clark thanks. Yeehaw uh many episodes of movie Crush. Yeehaw lots of don't be dumbs.

okay what's wrong with don't be dumbs no. don't be dumbs are great I just any time. someone has dived into the videos I. think it's pretty like extra they're. hardcore for sure yeah I wasn't saying. it wasn't something in fact don't be. like okay was the best be Dums of what. happened in our video were you're don't. be Dums I don't know man what about our. uh our um uh this day in history. weirdness no I always felt like we we're. just hanging on by the skin of our teeth. we definitely were anyway watch don't be.

dumb if you have't everyone it's pretty. great uh I haven't dug up the TV show. yet but maybe one day I will uh one day. I will I have your book but sadly not. your board game not to go parasocial on. you guys but I really like. you we like you too uh your constant. motivation to continue to be better in. all aspects of your lives and your. openness therein has been an inspiration. so from the bottom of my heart thank you. and that is from Adam. thanks a lot Adam that was a great email. we appreciate that congratulations on.

becoming a doctor bless you for that. bless your wife too bless your kids as. well for having doctor parents bless. everybody uh med school girlfriend I. think is the great name for Indie pop. band oh totally yeah nailed it so thanks. for that too Adam uh if you want to be. like Adam and send us a really nice. email we are always happy to receive. those you can wrap it up spank it on the. bottom like a OBGYN and send it off to. stuff podcast at iHeart Radio. [Music].

stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].