The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning against dozens of hand sanitizer brands sold in the US markets. The FDA has warned that these sanitizers are mixed with methyl alcohol or methanol as it is largely known. It has been medically proved that methanol cannot be used in sanitizers as this particular colourless substance is used in making fuel and other solvents.
In a detailed observation, the FDA has pointed that the use of methanol resulted in individuals going blind and suffering from skin diseases. The federal health agency recalled several such sanitizer brands that are already in the US markets and has further issued warnings for people to completely avoid using the sanitizers with methanol.
Going by the guidelines issued under precautionary measures to follow, to keep self-hygiene, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges everyone to wash their hands frequently.
Here are some of the sanitizers against which the FDS has issued the warning:
MODESA Instant Hand Sanitizer Moisturizers and Vitamin E
KLAR AND DANVER Instant Hand Sanitizer (labeled with Greenbrier International Inc.
Sanitizers by Assured Instant (Vitamin E and Aloe)
QualitaMed Hand Sanitizer
Earths Amenities Instant Unscented Hand Sanitizer with Aloe Vera Advanced
Sanitizers by LumiSkin Advance
Hand Sanitizer Agavespa Skincare
Vidanos Easy Cleaning Rentals Hand Sanitizer Agavespa Skincare
All-Clean Hand Sanitizer
Esk Biochem Hand Sanitizer
Lavar 70 Gel Hand Sanitizer
The Good Gel Antibacterial Gel Hand Sanitizer
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (all sanitizers by CleanCare)
Saniderm Advanced Hand Sanitizer
Shine and Clean Hand Sanitizer
Optimus Instant Hand Sanitizer
Optimus Lubricants Instant Hand Sanitizer
NeoNatural
Apart from the above, many others have also been listed on the FDA website. The health agency is yet to track the number of these sanitizers sold, while it remains uncertain as to how many are affected by using these hand sanitizers.
It must be noted that according to CDC, a hand sanitizer must contain at least 60% alcohol to be able to kill all the active germs on the surface of the body where it is rubbed. It should have ethyl alcohol in it, and not methanol, which is also called as the 'wood alcohol'.
Here are a few tweets via which FDA declared these sanitizers dangerous.
A public warning against the use of the aforementioned sanitizers was first published by the FDA last month in June. The body is still tracking sanitizers that are likely to be stocked in shops and hypermarkets in the US.
The federal health agency has asked people in the US to report any health issues from the use of sanitizers to MedWatch, FDA's Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.
