FDA Warns About Toxic Hand Sanitizers
July 24 2020 - 8:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Sharon Terlep
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to
avoid dozens of imported hand-sanitizer products after the agency
found toxic wood alcohol in some samples.
Most of the questionable brands came from roughly a half-dozen
companies in Mexico, according to the agency. Several were sold by
major retailers such as Walmart Inc.
The coronavirus pandemic created a rush on hand sanitizer that
gave birth to legions of new brands as Americans scrambled to
secure the cleaners and major manufacturers couldn't keep up.
Wood alcohol, or methanol, can be fatal when ingested and lead
to methanol poisoning when applied to the skin. The FDA said it
also is concerned about brands making false claims that their
products protect against coronavirus, as well as growing numbers of
people getting sick from ingesting sanitizers.
The FDA's list of toxic or potentially toxic sanitizers includes
20 that were tested by the agency and shown to contain methanol,
and several dozen more that were either made at the same facilities
of the methanol-containing products or voluntarily recalled.
The list includes 75 brands, though many have similar or
identical names. There are about 35 distinct brand names on the
list. The brands include names such as CleanCare, Mystic Shield and
Blumen, which was sold by retailers including Walmart earlier this
summer. Walmart declined to comment.
The agency said earlier this month that there have been cases in
which adults and children died, were blinded or hospitalized after
ingesting sanitizers containing methanol.
Efforts to reach some of the companies behind these brands were
unsuccessful.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends
alcohol-based hand sanitizer as a tool in preventing the virus's
spread when soap and water aren't available.
Hand sanitizer is among the most in-demand products amid the
pandemic. Many makers, including Purell maker Gojo Industries Inc.,
have directed much of their supply to hospitals and health-care
facilities, which has made the cleaners even harder to find for
individual consumers. In recent months, U.S. business reopenings
have further ramped up demand.
Purell remains in short supply at retailers. Akron, Ohio-based
Gojo said Thursday the company had already doubled production and
is making capital investments that will allow it to increase
sanitizer production sevenfold by next summer. "Demand for hand
sanitizer remains exponentially higher than in any time in
history," a spokeswoman said.
Unilever PLC, the maker of Suave shampoo and Dove soap, said
Thursday that it has aggressively expanded its previously small
hand-sanitizer business to meet surging demand.
While mainstream brands are hard to find, dozens of small names
have cropped up, produced by local and major distilleries, beauty
companies and some companies already in the business of making
cleaning products.
The proliferation of pop-up brands hasn't been a major
phenomenon with most shortage-prone products. Items such as toilet
paper and paper towels require massive capital investments that
limit new entrants to the industry.
When it comes to surface cleaners and sanitizing wipes, the CDC
recommends using only products cleared by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency as being effective against coronavirus.
For hand sanitizers, which are regulated by the FDA rather than
the EPA, the CDC recommends only that the product contain
concentrations of at least 80% ethanol or 75% isopropyl
alcohol.
The FDA in March said that for the course of the pandemic it
wouldn't take action against companies for making alcohol-based
hand sanitizers for consumer use or for use by health-care
personnel. That move addressed U.S. sanitizer makers and not
imported brands.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 24, 2020 08:33 ET (12:33 GMT)
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