UNITED STATES – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) list of recalled hand sanitizers has topped more than 200 tainted products this week, as the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Oct. 3, the FDA’s recalled hand sanitizer list sits at 203, most of which contain potential methanol or propanol contamination. According to their report on July 20, the “agency has seen a sharp increase” in products labeled to contain ethanol, but have tested positive for methanol contamination.
“Methanol, or wood alcohol, is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested and can be life-threatening when ingested,” the FDA statement said. “The agency is aware of adults and children ingesting hand sanitizer products contaminated with methanol that has led to recent adverse events including blindness, hospitalizations and death.”
Methanol is often used to create fuel and antifreeze. Since the agency began reporting on the contaminations in June, at least one death has been reported in association with tainted hand sanitizer.
Peter Pitts, a former associate commissioner at the FDA who is now the president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, recently told NBC News that the toxic hand sanitizers ended up on store shelves in the U.S. after companies started breaking usual procedures ensuring product safety, particularly to meet current market demands.
“When you’re in a large company or a small company and you’re buying products in bulk, as sanitizer is purchased, you want to understand the provenance of that product—where it was manufactured, whether or not it’s been approved under good manufacturing standards brought by the FDA—and clearly that was simply ignored,” he said.
But while some companies are looking to cut corners, some are looking to the FDA and World Health Organization when formulating their sanitizers. One veteran-owned small business, which produces a 75% isopropyl alcohol-based sanitizer in Indianapolis, IN., recently encouraged consumers to remain vigilant during the COVID-19 crisis.
“While we know our USA made sanitizer is safe, that’s not the case with all products on the market currently,” SaniGo Business Development Manager Jordan Mendenhall said. “If you can’t find SaniGo, we would hope that any consumer would do their research before trying a new hand-rub. In this case, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.”
The FDA’s investigation of methanol and other contaminates in hand sanitizers is ongoing. The agency will provide additional information as it becomes available. The full list of recalled hand sanitizer can be found HERE.
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