StemCell Therapy

(NEXSTAR) If the option to wash hands isnt available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends hand sanitizer is an acceptable back in the sanitation fight against COVID-19.

With the rise in coronavirus cases across the United States, the federal Food and Drug Administration has noted a simultaneous increase in the number of hand sanitizer products being made but not all of them are made the same, which, in some cases, can be life-threatening.

Since August, the FDA has been adding to a list of hand sanitizer products and companies who have manufactured sanitizer that is labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but that have tested positive for methanol contaminiation.

Heres why that matters: Methanol also known as wood alcohol can be toxic when absorbed through the skin. If ingested, the FDA says it can also be life-threatening. Enough exposure could cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, blurred vision, blindness, seizures, nervous system damage, coma or even death.

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, the agency noted on their website.

Children who accidently ingest hand sanitizer and those who may purposefully drink the substance as an alcohol substitute are the most at-risk.

So what should consumers be looking for?

The FDA has made a full list thats been updated as recently as last month, although the agency noted that its investigation of methanol in certain hand sanitizers is ongoing.

You can read and search the list in the table below.

Some other things the FDA is watching for, according to its website, include the following:

Read more:
Not all the same: There are some hand sanitizers the FDA says consumers should avoid using. Heres the full list. - WHNT News 19

This entry was posted on December 4, 2020 at 12:09 am and is filed under Blindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |