Although public health experts say hand sanitizer is generally a suitable substitute for hand washing to protect against COVID-19, the increasing use of disinfectant products is causing another problem: a sudden spike in accidental poisoning, especially between children.
Through the third week of July, there was a 59% increase this year in calls to one of the 55 poison control centers in the US due to various disinfectant-related incidents compared to the same period last year, according to data from the National Poisoning Data System. Of those 18,625 cases, almost 12,000 involved children ages 5 and younger.
Disinfectants can have different risks. In June, the Food and Drug Administration began warning consumers that some brands of disinfectants, mostly made in Mexico, were contaminated with methanol. Better known as wood alcohol, the substance can be harmful if absorbed through the skin and fatal if swallowed, with especially vulnerable children. Since then, the agency has warned of almost 90 potentially toxic disinfectants.
“Although people who use these products on their hands are at risk of methanol poisoning, young children who ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as alcohol [ethanol] substitutes are at higher risk, “FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement Monday.
But even before the agency began warning about methanol in disinfectants and announced the recall of products sold nationwide by retailers, including Walmart and Target, the FDA identified another potential danger: Some new products flood the market. That is, a large number of manufacturers manufactured denatured alcohol-free products, a substance necessary for disinfectants to have a bitter and unappetizing taste for children.
Every year, thousands of consumers call poison control centers because someone accidentally ingested hand sanitizer. But in March, as concerns about the coronavirus grew, those calls increased 80% from a year ago. That caught the attention of FDA regulators, who noted that most of the nearly 3,300 cases that month involved young children.
In response to the wave of poisoning incidents, the FDA stepped up its testing of products, including shipments made by some of the 1,500 manufacturers that entered the hand sanitizing business amid a widespread shortage.
The result? A series of consumer warnings, starting with an FDA alert in late April that some hand sanitizers lacked a key ingredient: denatured alcohol that would make their products unattractive to drink, especially for children.
“Unfortunately, swallowing just a small amount of hand sanitizer can be life-threatening in a young child,” Hahn warned in April.
GoJo, the maker of Purell, one of the best-known brands of hand sanitizer, released a statement in early July, noting that it uses a denaturant in its product to “inhibit misuse.”
Ben Kremer, president of a school and office supply company called SCHOOLSin in Blue Ash, Ohio, can attest to concerns about hand sanitizers. Your company sells disinfectants to two suppliers, one in the U.S., the other in Mexico, and both have FDA-inspected facilities.
“The problem with this pandemic, like Clorox wipes and other hard-to-find things, is that bad actors with bad ingredients appear,” said Kremer, whose company began selling disinfectants and personal protective equipment as demand grew. of the products. .
Permanent blindness and deaths
The FDA notes that incidents in which children and adults ingested methanol-contaminated hand sanitizers caused hospitalizations, blindness, and death.
“Methanol is an extremely toxic substance,” William Banner, an Oklahoma pediatrician and chairman of the board of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), told CBS MoneyWatch. Unlike some substances that require sustained exposure to cause serious harm, wood alcohol has a long history of severe toxicity that led to the term “blind drunk” due to potential damage to the optic nerve, he added.
In late June, state health officials in New Mexico reported three deaths from methanol poisoning, three others who were seriously injured and a seventh who had suffered permanent blindness. According to the New Mexico Department of Health, all seven were believed to have consumed hand sanitizer that contained methanol.
The Republic of Arizona this month also reported that since May, four people have died and 26 people have been hospitalized after ingesting hand sanitizer containing methanol.
People exposed to the methanol-containing hand sanitizer and experiencing symptoms should seek immediate medical treatment, according to the AAPCC.
The FDA offers the following tips when it comes to buying hand sanitizers:
- Check your hand sanitizer products to see if they are on the FDA list; if so, throw them away immediately. Most methanol-containing disinfectants don’t list it as an ingredient on the label, so it’s important to check the agency’s list to see if the company or product name is included.
- Hand sanitizer should be stored out of the reach and sight of children. For children under 6 years old, the disinfectant should be used with adult supervision. If your child swallows disinfectant, call a poison control center or medical professional immediately.
- There are currently no medications, including the FDA-approved hand sanitizer to prevent or treat COVID-19. The best way to prevent the spread of infection and lower your risk of getting sick is to wash your hands with soap and water.
- If soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends that consumers use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
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