FDA recall list of hand sanitizers

[RogerDat]

The FDA has been finding hand sanitizer made with toxic methanol instead of safe ethanol. Since the methanol is absorbed through the skin and pretty toxic it is worth using the search they provide to search their list of recalled brands. It numbers around 80 so far.

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safet...hanol#products


Be well, stay safe. Don't forget you dog is right you can wipe your backside by scooting across the grass. Who needs toilet paper!

[dangitgriff]

Install a booty-washing machine, instead.

https://youtu.be/ekm9q2dvk6k

[KMac]

All of the companies that made and distributed the tainted hand sanitizer are from Mexico. I find that odd.

[dangitgriff]

Yeah, aren’t we supposed to be hating on China? That’s what we’ve been told to do by the TV.

[RogerDat]

All of the companies that made and distributed the tainted hand sanitizer are from Mexico. I find that odd.

I don't find it odd at all. I would think Mexico has lower level of oversight and standards enforcement. Absent an FDA type entity who is going to tell the supply chain "alcohol" has to be grain variety not the wood variety? Who is going test and enforce those requirements?

Market demand and prices went high fast. Regular suppliers get stripped of supply leaving manufactures to try and find an alternative. Not all that much different than all those smokeless powders folks wouldn't have normally use that got used because nothing normally used was available. Explains my supply of BL-C(2) or the Mexican hand sanitizer having methanol.

[Wayne Smith]

Wasn't that long ago that there was a spate of methanol liquors in Mexican resorts - clearly inadequate oversight.

[kevin c]

Make my own now. Three parts 190 proof ethanol to one part aloe gel, a few drops of essential oils like spearmint and lemon, some vitamin E oil and I'm good to go. Smells better than what I can buy, about the same cost, no worries on content.

[bangerjim]

I use good old soap & water and drink the 190 proof ethanol in mixed drinks! Why waste good Everclear.

[kevin c]

I don't imbibe. No objections to moderate consumption, I just don't have the right kind of liver for it.

True that good hand washing is better than sanitizer, but I can't carry soap, water, sink and towel in my pocket, and for a while sanitizer was not to be found for purchase anywhere.

[Petrol & Powder]

Way back when the earth was flat, I was taught to wash my hands with soap & water. That has served me well.

As for just how toxic methanol is - you certainly don't want to drink it but unless you're bathing in the stuff 20 times a day, I have doubts that enough would be absorbed through the skin of your hands to be dangerous. Your hands don't provide much surface area, the methanol will not be present for very long and the concentration in the hand sanitizer isn't very high.
By the way, ethanol is also toxic to humans, it just takes a lot more to kill you.

I suspect the recall has more to do with idiots poisoning themselves by drinking the stuff. Personally I think it's a self-correcting problem but that's one of the many reasons I'm not in charge of the FDA.

[jonp]

Don't drink it and stop worrying about it

[Scrounge]

Way back when the earth was flat, I was taught to wash my hands with soap & water. That has served me well.

As for just how toxic methanol is - you certainly don't want to drink it but unless you're bathing in the stuff 20 times a day, I have doubts that enough would be absorbed through the skin of your hands to be dangerous. Your hands don't provide much surface area, the methanol will not be present for very long and the concentration in the hand sanitizer isn't very high.
By the way, ethanol is also toxic to humans, it just takes a lot more to kill you.

I suspect the recall has more to do with idiots poisoning themselves by drinking the stuff. Personally I think it's a self-correcting problem but that's one of the many reasons I'm not in charge of the FDA.

"Think of it as Evolution in Action!"

Though I prefer to avoid exposure as much as I can, since my vision is already not all that great. Much of what I do for fun requires that I not lose my vision entirely. Like reading. Machining. Reloading. Shooting.