It’s something that we usually take for as a parental warning – don’t drink any industrial products, even medical, when they are not fit for consumption.
However, it seems in the United States, people are brazenly taking in hand sanitizers gladly, and they are getting morbidly sick. So sick that they are dying out, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four have now died, with many suffering impaired vision or seizures as a side effect.
The CDC reiterates their point in an unusually strong remark: “Alcohol-based hand sanitizer products should never be ingested,” the CDC said in a new report. A CDC team described the cases of 15 adults in Arizona and New Mexico hospitalized for methanol poisoning after consuming alcohol-based hand sanitizers between May and June.
The CDC is not sure why people might drink hand sanitizer. The US Food and Drug Administration has warned several times in public announcements and advertisements around the United States.
The alcohol usually used to make hand sanitizer methanol is toxic and can even poison people through their skin. The FDA has warned against more than 100 hand sanitizer products. The new CDC statement to the media via email reads: “We wanted to specifically look at adverse events related to methanol because it is known to be toxic and potentially life-threatening when ingested,” the spokesperson said.
“This investigation highlights the serious adverse health events, including death, that can occur after ingesting alcohol-based hand sanitizer products containing methanol,” the researchers wrote in the new CDC report.
“Safety messaging to avoid ingestion of any alcohol-based hand sanitizer product should continue,” they wrote. “Young children might unintentionally swallow these products, whereas adolescents or adults with history of alcohol use disorder might intentionally swallow these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute.
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“Practicing good hand hygiene, which includes using alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available, is an important public health tool for all Americans to employ.
Consumers must also be vigilant about which hand sanitizers they use, and for their health and safety we urge consumers to immediately stop using all hand sanitizers on the FDA’s list of dangerous hand sanitizer products,” FDA Commissioner Dr.
Stephen Hahn said in a news release at the time. “We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol,” he said.
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