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Lysol’s RBGPF, -0.65% Disinfectant Spray and Disinfectant Max Cover Mist are the first two products deemed effective at killing SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces based on testing performed “directly against” the virus, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday.
Earlier in the pandemic, the EPA released a list of products considered capable of killing COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, on surfaces. But none of the products on the list had actually been tested on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Since then, EPA has reviewed lab test data on the Lysol products and approved the claims the company makes on its product labels about effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2.
Companies were legally allowed to make claims about their products’ effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 if they could prove that “their products are effective against harder-to-kill viruses than SARS-CoV-2,” according to the EPA’s Emerging Viral Pathogens policy. That policy is still in place, an EPA spokesman told MarketWatch on Tuesday.
“EPA’s review of products tested against this virus marks an important milestone in President Trump’s all of government approach to fighting the spread of COVID-19,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in a statement released on Monday.
Reckitt Benckiser, Lysol’s parent company, did not respond to MarketWatch’s request for a comment.
Both of the Lysol products that were approved by the EPA on Monday are currently out of stock on Amazon AMZN, -1.45% and Walmart WMT, +6.52%. Amazon and Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding when consumers could expect to see these products back in stock.
The EPA says it expects to approve other products’ efficacy test results against SARS-CoV-2 “in the coming weeks.”
