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Mounting poisonings, blindness, deaths as toxic hand sanitizers flood market
The Food and Drug Administration is renewing warnings this week of dangerous hand sanitizers as it continues to find products that contain toxic methanol—a poisonous alcohol that can cause systemic effects, blindness, and death.
The agency's growing "do-not-use list" of dangerous sanitizers now includes 87 products. And with the mounting tally, the FDA also says there are rising reports from state health departments and poison control centers of injuries and deaths.
"We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol," said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn in a statement.
Previously:
Toxic Hand Sanitizers Have Blinded and Killed Adults and Children, FDA Warns
Toxic Methanol that Causes Blindness Found in Hand Sanitizers, FDA Warns
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Thursday July 30 2020, @05:15AM (4 children)
Once upon a time my grandfather was released from a WWII German concentration camp with a few other survivors. They walked an almost abandoned village and found a railroad tank car full with alcohol. The valve was opened and party started. My granddad did not drink. He was the only one who survived.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2020, @07:49PM
Wow, I've heard this. Either that was not uncommon, or my 8th grade history teacher's unit came upon your grandfather's party just after the horror began. It was probably a big deal at the time.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday July 30 2020, @10:47PM (1 child)
Darwinism only applies when an activity or object is known to be dangerous, or when there's good reason for an individual to expect it to be. I don't know the specifics about the tank of alcohol (like whether there was something about it that might have tipped the survivors off that it was poisonous), but since hand sanitizer isn't normally toxic, the injuries and deaths caused by using it in a normal fashion don't qualify as cases of Darwinism.
(Score: 1) by fakefuck39 on Saturday August 01 2020, @01:21AM
they don't? strange - they do for me. like when using medical things from Mexico. I don't, just like I don't use medical things from Amazon.
it's a perfect example of darwinism. people stupid enough to ignore basic caution die
next up: people get sick from mexican diet pills. wait, that's not next up - they were selling pills with tapeworm eggs. next up: pain pills from mexico kill. wait, that happened too -they sold and still sell pain meds with metamizole.
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 01 2020, @02:48PM
Wow, I've got an off topic one for this. I guess somebody really hates me here. Will keep doing great job.
Back to the topic. There are many things that smell and taste like alcohol. All of them except one are poisoneous for an ordinary user. Whoever is not aware does not pass Darvin test, sorry, and her death is, well, benefitial.
Now just in case one asks how many are many. A great chemist Mendeleev discovered that alcohol at 40% cold and at 60% hot is the best thing to exctract tiny concentration of magic substances from orcanic matter. Since then everybody does it so millions of "potions" are just alcohol by smell and taste.
Have a safe life.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.