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Toxic Hand Sanitizers Have Blinded and Killed Adults and Children, FDA Warns

posted by martyb on Wednesday July 08 2020, @01:42AM   
from the friends-don't-let-friends-drink-hand-sanitizers dept.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/07/toxic-hand-sanitizers-have-blinded-and-killed-adults-and-children-fda-warns/

Adults and children in the United States have been blinded, hospitalized, and, in some cases, even died after drinking hand sanitizers contaminated with the extremely toxic alcohol methanol, the Food and Drug Administration reports.

In an updated safety warning, the agency identified five more brands of hand sanitizer that contain methanol, a simple alcohol often linked to incorrectly distilled liquor that is poisonous if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin.
[...]
The newly identified products are as follows:

• Hand sanitizer Gel Unscented 70% Alcohol, made by Grupo Insoma, S.A.P.I de CV (Mexico)
• Mystic Shield Protection hand sanitizer, made by Transliquid Technologies (Mexico)
• Berish Hand Sanitizer Gel Fragrance Free, made by Soluciones Cosmeticas SA de CV (Mexico)
• Antiseptic Alcohol 70% Topical Solution hand sanitizer, made by Soluciones Cosmeticas SA de CV (Mexico)
• Britz Hand Sanitizer Ethyl Alcohol 70%, made by Tropicosmeticos SA de CV (Mexico)

The full list of product codes can be found here.

Previously:
(2020-06-23) Toxic Methanol that Causes Blindness Found in Hand Sanitizers, FDA Warns

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Original Submission

• Re:Dupe Re:Dupe (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @04:19PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 08 2020, @04:19PM (#1018241)

  I've never heard that isopropyl alcohol is safer than ethyl alcohol and I thought I remember it being way more dangerous so I looked it up. I found various websites that basically say it's not safer. Here is one source.

  "Consuming even small amounts of rubbing alcohol, or isopropyl alcohol, can make a person very ill. Isopropyl alcohol is twice as toxic as ethanol, the form of alcohol contained in alcoholic beverages, and drinking it can result in severe depression of the central nervous system, internal bleeding and even death. "

  https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/alcohol/drinking-rubbing-alcohol/ [drugrehab.com]

  Here is another source

  "Isopropyl alcohol is also extremely irritating to the digestive tract. Drinking a lot of it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, pain, and bleeding in the stomach and intestines. This can lead to dehydration, low blood pressure, shock, and coma."

  https://www.poison.org/articles/2012-dec/rubbing-alcohol-only-looks-like-water [poison.org]

  I post this because I don't want someone reading your post and drinking this stuff. Please do not.

  Parent

  Starting Score:	0		points
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• Re:Dupe (Score: 3, Touché) by FatPhil on Thursday July 09 2020, @12:26PM

  by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Thursday July 09 2020, @12:26PM (#1018619) Homepage

  He was saying that it was safer than the alternatives used for the same kinds of tasks, specifically ethanol denatured with methanol.
  
  Which it is, as methanol is a mass killer even in small concentrations. (At least here in eastern europe.)
  
  If those with poor reading comprehension drink stuff and die, then the average reading comprehension level will rise - that's a good thing.

  --
  Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

  Parent