More than half of hand sanitizers imported from Mexico contain dangerous levels of toxic ingredients and should not be used by consumers, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. In January alone, more than 900 accidental poisonings involving hand sanitizer were reported in the United States, the overwhelming majority involving young children.
The FDA issued a nationwide import alert on alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico on Tuesday, the agency’s last attempt to address a pandemic– peak induced in products contaminated with methanol or wood alcohol. The substance, which in most cases is not listed as an ingredient on labels, can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and potentially fatal when ingested.
“Although people who use these products in their hands are at risk of methanol poisoning, children who ingest these products and teenagers and adults who drink these products as alcohol substitutes are at greater risk,” noted the FDA.
The increase in the use of hand sanitizers has led to a increase in accidental poisoning, most involving children. According to data from the National Poison Data System, there were 938 cases of exposure to hand sanitizers reported to the 55 United States Poison Control Centers over a 10-day period, from January 1, 2021 to January 10, a 57% increase over the previous year. Of these cases, almost 600 involved children up to 5 years old.
“During the course of the ongoing pandemic, the agency saw a sharp increase in hand sanitizer products from Mexico that were labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol), but tested positive for methanol contamination,” said the FDA.
Long list of recalls
The FDA has warned consumers for months against using a long list of hand sanitizer products that contain methanol, calling them a serious safety concern that has led to blindness, hospitalizations and death. Exposure to methanol can also result in nausea, vomiting, headaches, blurred vision, seizures, coma and permanent damage to the nervous system, the agency said.
“Consumer use of hand sanitizers increased significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, especially when soap and water are not accessible, and the availability of low-quality products with dangerous and unacceptable ingredients will not be tolerated,” Judy McMeekin, associate commissioner for regulating FDA matters, said in the statement Tuesday.
The import alert – the agency’s first for any category of medication, he said – follows an FDA analysis that found that 84% of Mexico’s hand sanitizers sampled from April to December 2020 did not comply with FDA regulations . Most of the samples contained dangerous amounts of toxic ingredients, including methanol and / or 1-propanol.
Shipments of hand sanitizers from Mexico can now be stopped by the FDA and will be subject to more rigorous scrutiny, the agency said.