Buyer beware. All hand sanitizers are not created equal and those containing methanol, or wood alcohol, may be deadly.
The Food and Drug Administration has just added a dozen brands of hand sanitizers to its ever-growing list of potentially dangerous products. The hand sanitizers involved in the FDA recall all contain methanol, a substance used to make antifreeze and fuel that can be toxic if ingested.
According to Fox Business, most of these products appear to be made in Mexico and the FDA urges consumers not to buy any products from their list of manufacturers even if a particular hand sanitizer isn’t listed in their updated list of recalls.
One death already has been linked to Blumen Hand Sanitizer, distributed by 4e North America and manufactured by 4E Global in Mexico. Fox Business said the FDA has asked manufacturers to take their products off the markets because they are “placing consumers in danger of methanol poisoning.”
“We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol,” Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, the FDA commissioner warned. “Producing, importing and distributing toxic hand sanitizers poses a serious threat to the public and will not be tolerated.”
Some of the serious side effects and complications of methanol poisoning include nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma and death, according to Fox Business. Simply exposing your skin to a product containing methanol can lead to toxicity, according to an NBC affiliate in Los Angeles.
Buyers should dispose of the methanol-based products as hazardous waste and not flush or pour them down drains, said the FDA. Some manufacturers, including 4E Global in Mexico and Eskbiochem, which the FDA ask to withdraw its products in June, have voluntarily withdrawn their hand sanitizers from the market.
Lynn C. Allison ✉
Lynn C. Allison, a Newsmax health reporter, is an award-winning medical journalist and author of more than 30 self-help books.
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