Avoid These Possibly TOXIC Hand Sanitizers When Shopping Locally

WIVB-TV reports that consumers should not use any of nine brands of possibly toxic hand sanitizer that may contain a substance that’s potentially dangerous when absorbed through the skin or ingested, the Food and Drug Administration warned.

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Hand sanitizers are in especially heavy demand now due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The FDA said the Mexico-based manufacturer Eskbiochem SA de CV had rebuffed its request that it remove the “potentially dangerous products” from the U.S. market.

Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and should not be used due to its toxic effects, the FDA stated. The agency urged consumers to stop using the products, which should be immediately discarded in hazardous waste containers.

“Do not flush or pour these products down the drain,” the agency’s announcement stressed.

The FDA is not aware of any reports of adverse effects from using the products at this point.

Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death, it said.

Young children who accidentally ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink them as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute are most at risk for methanol poisoning, the FDA said.

The FDA listed the following products in its warning:

• All-Clean Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-002-01)
• Esk Biochem Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-007-01)
• CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-008-04)
• Lavar 70 Gel Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-006-01)
• The Good Gel Antibacterial Gel Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-010-10)
• CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-005-03)
• CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-009-01)
• CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-003-01)
• Saniderm Advanced Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-001-01)

As an addendum another cautionary note not to leave hand sanitizers in a hot car during the summer months, out of caution for possible explosion or fire.