FDA urges consumers not use certain hand sanitizer products

2 grams is a safe daily dose of methanol, according to this paper[1]. 2 cubic centimeters of water weighs about 2 grams.

These sanitizers are supposed to be mostly ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, around 70%.

So, supposing conservatively, if all of the alcohol is methanol instead, and you absorb all of it, about 3 cc's should be your maximum daily limit from such a dispenser.

Of course, most of the alcohol will be lost to evaporation instead of absorbed, thus I think a few small squirts here and there shouldn't hurt you - as long as you aren't drinking it.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11926610/

> A lot of stores require that you use those upon entry

Is this actually a thing? None of the stores I’ve been to require you to use it.

> My biggest concern when I read this—perhaps unnecessarily—is how do I know if the sanitizer dispenser at $random_grocery_store is safe? A lot of stores require that you use those upon entry (for perfectly well-intentioned reasons).

I haven't personally encountered a store where hand-sanitizer use is required, but I usually wear a pair of nitrile gloves anyway, so I guess this is another reason to continue to do that.

I just ran into that recently at my local $ethnicity grocery store. The bottle at the entrance looked like a bulk bottle of Purell/etc brand (though unlabeled), but then I squirted it out and it was a thick, slimy liquid that smelled of lavender. Instantly grossed out and mistrusting the grocery store's hygiene after that.

edit: I find it amusing that people are downvoting me for saying "ethnicity". As if I'm privileged and looking down on some ethnicity.

I'm of that ethnicity, you dolts. I thought I made that clear with the $ sign, following on the OP's use of it. But I guess that was too subtle.

Any place I've gone to that required it has let me use my own I carry with me when I'm out.

The FDA primarily cares about methanol in hand-sanitizer because alcoholics (and teenagers) sometimes drink hand sanitizer. In a public grocery store, you're probably not drinking the stuff.

Every one I've seen has the ingredients listed. Just avoid methanol. Ethanol is the same alcohol you drink, so I would guess that's relatively safe.

I also imagine a store employee wouldn't balk at you using your own sanitizer instead. Or even notice if you pretended to use it.

Edit: I missed the idea that these products have unintentional, and undocumented, methanol in them. Note that some hand sanitizers intentionally have methanol in them, and it's listed. Those, at least, are easy to avoid.

It's possible that there's common manufacturing involved, either of an ingredient or the whole product. That's fairly common for this sort of rather generic product, and can lead to extremely broad recalls. A while back, almost all hummus in the UK and Ireland was recalled; turns out practically all manufacturers shared one company in the supply chain.

They were all Mexico, actually, except Tritanium Labs, which had this comment:

Product purported to be made at the same facility as Incredible Products SA de CV that produced methanol contaminated product; FDA recommended a recall on 7/30/2020

I'm pretty sure the supply chain changed drastically when hand sanitizer went into high demand mode. Opportunistic companies that had access to methanol, ethanol, or isopropyl alcohol probably jumped in too quickly.

Purell, a popular brand, is made in Ohio and France.

I wonder if it’s related to the “counterfeit” Mexican alcohol that killed some resort-goers last summer.

This may be an attempt to pander to US corn ethanol interests ahead of the election, in particular the swing state of Iowa which is a major corn ethanol producer and holds the first primary election. Note that it's not just a recommendation - the named products are now forbidden from import.

Circumstantial evidence:

* The very day before the import bans, Trump retweeted "President @realDonaldTrump is working to ensure that AMERICA produces the critical goods necessary to combat COVID-19 here" - along with a small speech about "restoring American manufacturing".

* The head of the FDA appears to be politically captured by the Trump administration, for example by ordering FEMA to distribute hydroxychloroquine to pharmacies nationwide.

* This administration has already attempted to pander to the Iowa ethanol demographic in the form of lobbying Brazil to lower ethanol import tariffs. Mexican ethanol is both cheaper and geographically nearer to Brazil, so discrediting its purity would make sense.

* Tiny methanol impurities, the cited reason for most of these recalls, pose virtually no contact risk in hand sanitizer. Even if you rubbed pure methanol on both your hands for a whole minute, you'd only absorb about 30 mg. That's about the same as you'd get from metabolizing a pint of diet soda (aspartame turns into 10% methanol by weight). Real hand sanitizer will contain tiny amounts of methanol, and will be in liquid form on the hands for considerably less than a minute. So I find the health justification for this rather suspect.

They provided a series of rules and guidelines for companies not typically registered to produce it to be able to legally produce it yeah. There's some hiccup in these companies' ethanol source because if they were following the rules they'd be using existing food grade sources for their ethanol which wouldn't have methanol.

https://www.fda.gov/media/136289/download

That was more with the production of ethyl alcohol, not methanol.

They mention that they are adding them to import alert in order to stop them from being legally imported into the US

Yes and yes, but legal action takes time and the FDA wants to prevent adverse events rapidly. Expect legal action to follow in the future.

> drinking fridge cleaner

> in college

I don't know if I should be inspired or horrified.

Basically no. I've discussed it with a friend with very relevant experience and it comes down to "it's easy if it's pure, but difficult once you have a blend or contaminants (like gelling agents)."

Flame color isn't reliable because you don't know what's burning.

This site claims you may be able to test by scent and flame color. It's about testing alcoholic beverages, not hand sanitizer though, so assess your risk accordingly.

https://sciencing.com/test-ethanol-content-4598588.html

Why is that "curious?" They clearly state they're putting these on import alert to prevent them from entering the country, it's not like they're hiding anything. If they put out a blanked statement it would impact all Mexican manufacturers, including the ones that aren't contaminated, while giving people a false sense of security with all non-mexican origin products, when the lack of listings from other regions may just be because the FDA prioritized first looking into sanitizers that shared a similar supply chain and simply haven't gotten around to testing enough others yet to determine how widespread the problem is.

It's a recall, so that doesn't particularly relevant. In fact, it could have two harmful effects if that narrative took hold.

a) It could cause people to avoid all hand sanitiser from Mexico. Given that supplies are still uncertain, this could lead people to avoid using hand sanitiser at all, with negative effects.

b) It could cause people to incorrectly assume it's only a problem with products from Mexico, causing them to ignore future recalls. Realistically, given the massive rampup in production of the stuff, there will be more recalls.

Why should it be?

If 90% of all sanitizers produced in Mexico were dangerous then it makes sense to include it in the headline: that’s useful information for the reader. But if it’s a tiny minority then knowing the country of origin doesn’t actually help the reader make a choice in the store.

In any case, this isn’t a new article, it’s an FDA dataset. It isn’t supposed to be editorialised.

Methanol exposure through the skin can also cause a lot of issues: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750...

Your dangerous comment should be downvoted into oblivion. The whole point is that methanol is dangerous to handle.

"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."

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-u...

This is not true. You will absorb the methanol into your skin.

The EU banned the use of methanol in windshield washer fluid[1], and the sooner the US does the same, the better. Methanol is very toxic. You don't spread windshield washer fluid all over your hands and breathe in the vapors for a reason. That reason is that you will go blind and/or die if you do.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/content/new-restriction-methanol...

This is a list of products that you should NOT use. They all have been recalled by the FDA.

They are not "toxic", but they are certainly dangerous.

In the same way oven-gloves that do not insulate are dangerous, and sun lotion that has no UV protection is dangerous... i.e they are misleading, indirectly causing people harm.