As of Friday, Aug. 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has named 165 hand sanitizers on its list of “Hand sanitizers consumers should not use.” The FDA is warning customers about products with possible methanol or 1-propanol contaminations.
Before you throw away all of your hand sanitizer, you can easily check if your hand sanitizer has been recommended for a recall, and what you should do if it has been.
The FDA first issued a public alert on Friday, June 19, when it advised consumers not to use hand sanitizer products from the manufacturer Eskbiochem due to the potential presence of methanol, which is a non-drinking type of alcohol primarily used to make fuel, solvents, and antifreeze.
According to the FDA, methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizer due to the fact that it can be toxic if ingested or absorbed through the skin.
The FDA identified seven different distributors of the Eskbiochem sanitizers, and recommended a recall to Eskbiochem of all the listed hand sanitizers on June 17.
After the June 17 recommendations, Saniderm Products voluntarily recalled its 1-liter bottles of Saniderm Advanced Hand Sanitizer on June 26 due to the potential presence of methanol, and UVT, INC. subsequently issued a voluntary recall of the same product on June 29.
Since the first warning in June, the FDA has continually updated the alert to warn consumers about more brands of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol, and the agency expanded its do-not-use list of hand sanitizers to include products containing a possible 1-propanol contamination as of Wednesday, Aug. 12.
If you have concerns about your hand sanitizer, you can check the full list of hand sanitizers the FDA recommends against using.
If you’ve been exposed to hand sanitizer containing 1-propanol and are experiencing symptoms of poisoning, you should seek immediate care for treatment of toxic effects.
If you need to make a report, it’s important to provide as much information about the hand sanitizer as possible so the agency can identify the product.