Lysol Scrubs Ebola-Prevention Claims From Its Website

A banner image of the Ebola virus spans the homepage of Lysol.com, but the company has tempered its language and shied away from claims that its disinfectants can prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

The cleaning product company positioned a Lysol advertisement in prime real estate above Google search results for “Ebola,” Vice Motherboard first reported on Tuesday. But as media scrutiny intensified, the ad vanished and Lysol scrubbed away some of the bolder claims from its website to “ensure there is no confusion about the role of Lysol and Ebola,” a company representative told CNN.

The headline on Lysol’s homepage, which once read, “Safeguarding Against the Spread of Ebola,” now directs readers to “Find information from the CDC.” A link to the company’s “Ebola Update” page offers Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that sidle up to the question of which disinfectants “are likely to kill Ebola,” while cautioning that none of Lysol’s products have been specifically tested against the virus.

A company spokesperson told CNN the intent of the update was to direct customers to information from the CDC. “We are not trying to over-claim anything,” the spokesperson said.