FDA Updates Hand Sanitizer List, now 77 contain toxic methanol

[TheBlackAdder]

.

Federal regulators have recalled dozens of hand sanitizers — many widely available through Walmart and other national retailers — because they contain dangerous and potentially deadly levels of wood alcohol.

Hand sanitizer demand has skyrocketed during the pandemic as Americans were urged to wash their hands often to guard against the coronavirus. That has sparked a rush of new brands onto the market. But since June, the Food and Drug Administration has identified at least 77 products — including two this week — that consumers should avoid. Many of the products’ labels say they contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but FDA tests show that they contain methanol, or wood alcohol.

Methanol can be toxic when absorbed through the skin, the agency said in an advisory, and can cause blindness. It can be lethal if ingested.

Because the products are mislabeled, consumers would not be able to tell which hand sanitizers actually contain methanol. The FDA keeps a running tally of the recalled products on its website.

The recalled products are manufactured by various companies, all in Mexico, and have been carried by such retailers as BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco and Walmart. The FDA included several types of Blumen brand hand sanitizer on the recall list and said an import alert was attached to them earlier this month to prevent them from entering the country.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/24/hand-sanitizer-recall/

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-methanol

Here's the direct link to the list: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-methanol#products

I think I've seen these brands in dollar stores too.

.

[Shermann]

1. Just avoid any that are made in Mexico nt

[louis-t]

2. I made my own. Isopropyl and distilled water in a little sprayer.

I wear gloves everywhere and take them off without touching the outside. The alcohol is just for emergencies. Wash my hands, clean hand/dirty hand with the groceries, very careful with anything handed to me. I don't touch a bag or a box where the person giving it to me touched it. It's exhausting but you get used to it.

You just know some of these companies will put cheap poison in a bottle and sell it to you. They don't care if it harms people.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Me too. Found a 2-quart package of isopropyl alcohol for half the price of a small sanitizer bottle.

No gels, fragrances, or other crap. Probably even better deals at hardware stores.

I did buy a bottle of sanitizer at Walmart a month or so ago, but it smelled terrible. I mean really horrible-- the "perfume" used must have been a skunks leftovers.

[louis-t]

6. 'Skunk leavins'

Waste water from the turpentine factory. Jeez, the things people think smell good. Those plug-in air 'fresheners' that smell like fake vanilla and toilet bowl cleaner. Yeah, let's heat up some stinky oil so that the smell clings to your clothes. Gross.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Actual hand washing with soap and water is

a lot better than the hand sanitizers. I feel disgruntled when required to use a sanitizer in certain public places right now, although I don't say anything. Perhaps I should print out that list and double check what it is I'm being required to use and make sure it's not toxic.

[GulfCoast66]

5. I've been using 151 Everclear since this thing first started.

At first because it was the only thing available for 2 months.

Now I prefer it to the goopy gel stuff that leaves a wired layer on my hands.

[Hekate]

7. Couldn't find mine on the list: Moxe, made in the USA, from Costco, and Natural Concepts, Canada...

Can’t remember where I bought the latter. So far so good — the main problem seems to be Mexico, afaict.