What Happens To Your Body When You Drink Drano - Grunge

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• Human Body

What Happens To Your Body When You Drink Drano By Tom Meisfjord Updated: Aug. 29, 2021 5:44 pm EST Shutterstock

As you might suspect, the human anatomy has very little in common with the u-bend of a bathroom sink, and what's good for the PVC goose isn't good for the soft, fleshy gander. By way of example: one of the chief ingredients in Drano is a friendly little chemical called sodium hydroxide, also known as lye. Lye, as any self-respecting body disposal guy from a mob movie can tell you, is particularly good at breaking down organic materials. That's wonderful news if you want to beat up a wad of hair at the bottom of your drain, but less great if you get it in your little tummy.

There are several good reasons Drano, like most other household cleaners, should be kept in a safe space away from your inquisitive offspring — and kept in their original containers, lest you mistake it for something tasty to drink. And that reason is the aforementioned lye — plus a ton of other not-so-friendly ingredients. 

Lye therein's the problem

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For receipts, check out this story from 2011. As reported by CBS affiliate THV 11, about a man who accidentally drank Drano as a two year old. A few seconds later, the child's mouth and throat were burning. A few minutes after that, he was starting a three-year stay in the hospital. The scarring in his esophagus was so intense that he would require a special computer to mix liquid nutrients to feed him for the rest of his life.

But maybe you like the taste of lye and the feeling of your throat turning into a scene from a David Cronenberg movie. There are also other ingredients like bleach, which is both poisonous and not particularly yummy. Put it all together and you've got a culinary experience that'll have you saying "please call 911."

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