Dettol is the trade name for a line of hygiene products manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser. It has been in use since before 1936, when it was used after surgery as an antiseptic.[1]

Composition and chemistry

The original Dettol liquid antiseptic and disinfectant is light yellow in colour in the concentrated form but, as several of the ingredients are insoluble in water, it produces a milky emulsion of oil droplets when diluted with water, exhibiting the ouzo effect.
The active ingredient in Dettol that confers its antiseptic property is chloroxylenol (C8H9ClO), an aromatic chemical compound. Chloroxylenol comprises 4.8% of Dettol's total admixture,[2] with the rest made up by pine oil, isopropanol, castor oil, soap and water.

Humans[edit]
As with other manufactured household cleaners, Dettol has the potential for causing lethal toxicity. It is poisonous when ingested and even when it is unintentionally inhaled.
In a case report, a 42-year-old British man died from Dettol overexposure in May 2007. He was suffering from "obsessive cleaning disorder" and used to keep buckets of dettol around his flat with rooms littered with dettol. The autopsy was not able to conclude whether the lethal exposure to Dettol was via ingestion or inhalation.[3] A medical study which analyzed 177 cases of Dettol intoxications via ingestion in Hong Kong concluded that ″Dettol poisoning resulted in serious complications in 7% of patients, including death".[4]

Animals

Dettol is toxic to many animals, especially cats.[5] Dettol contains the phenol chloroxylenol. Phenols are of particular concern because cats are unable to eliminate the toxins following ingestion. A cat may swallow the product by licking its paws after they have come into contact with it.
In Australia, Dettol spray has been shown to be lethal to cane toads, an invasive species that was introduced from Hawaii, as a result of bad judgment, in 1935. It had been hoped that the amphibian would control the cane beetle but it became highly destructive within the ecosystem. Spraying the disinfectant at close range has been shown to cause rapid death to toads. It is not known whether the toxins are persistent or whether they harm other Australian flora and fauna.
Owing to concerns over potential harm to other Australian wildlife species, the use of Dettol as an agent for pest control was banned in Western Australia by the Department of Environment and Conservation in 2011.[6]