Local, federal officials warn against drinking hand sanitizers to combat coronavirus

Local and federal officials are warning people not to ingest hand sanitizers as more people turn to the popular cleansing agent to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are liquids, gels or foams that can disinfect hands. Such products should contain only ethanol or isopropanol. But some products imported into the United States have been found to contain methanol, a toxic substance used to create fuel and antifreeze, federal officials said.

People who drink hand sanitizers containing methanol can suffer negative health effects, such as blindness or even death, federal officials said.

“Hand sanitizer, period, shouldn’t be drunk,” said Dr. Michael Lynch, medical director of the Pittsburgh Poison Center. “It can be fairly caustic. There’s absolutely zero benefit or reason to drink it.”

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report showing that from May 1 through June 30, 15 people in New Mexico and Arizona were poisoned after drinking hand sanitizers containing methanol. Four patients died, and three were discharged with visual impairments, the report said.

No one in Pennsylvania has reportedly ingested such products, but people have called state poison centers with concerns about using them on their skin, Lynch said. In addition to wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands with soap and water, health officials have suggested using hand sanitizer when soap and water aren’t available to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“We’ve had reports of 84 people having some sort of skin exposure, basically using what turned out to be methanol-containing hand sanitizer,” Lynch said, “but no cases of … drinking or getting really sick as a result of it.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates alcohol-based hand sanitizers, first warned about the products in June after receiving reports they were being sold online and in retail stores.

It issued further warning in July about an increasing number of people suffering from blindness, cardiac effects, effects on the central nervous system and hospitalizations. There also were reports of deaths.

“We remain extremely concerned about the potential serious risks of alcohol-based hand sanitizers containing methanol,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a news release. “Producing, importing and distributing toxic hand sanitizers poses a serious threat to the public and will not be tolerated.”

Lynch said most of the cases reported in Pennsylvania were because people knew the products they were using contained methanol, and they wanted to make sure they were OK. None of the people suffered adverse side effects, Lynch said.

Lynch said the main risk with methanol is ingestion. If you use it on your hands, you won’t absorb enough to get poisoned.

Lynch said one of the reasons people may drink hand sanitizer is because it contains alcohol. Another reason is that people may think it can kill the coronavirus. But there is no evidence drinking hand sanitizer will do that, Lynch said.

“The only way that helps to stop the coronavirus is if (you) wash your hands, which is something we should all be doing,” Lynch said. “Keep it easy, keep it simple. Just don’t drink hand sanitizer.”

According to the CDC report, the people who were poisoned all had a history of swallowing such products. They were between the ages of 21 and 65.

Nate Wardle, a spokesman with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said drinking hand sanitizer is a concern of the department. He said people should “certainly pay attention to anything they attempt to ingest and ensure it is safe.”

A list of hand sanitizers people shouldn’t use can be found here.