According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, more than half of hand sanitizers imported from Mexico contain dangerous amounts of toxic ingredients and should not be used by consumers. In January alone, more than 900 accidental hand sanitizer poisonings were reported in the US, with the vast majority of young children.
The FDA on Tuesday issued a nationwide import warning for alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico, the agency’s latest attempt at a pandemic-induced spike in products contaminated with methanol or wood alcohol. The substance, which in most cases is not listed as an ingredient on the labels, can be toxic if absorbed through the skin and life-threatening if swallowed.
“While people who use these products on their hands are at risk for methanol poisoning, young children who ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol substitute are most at risk,” noted the FDA.
The increased use of hand sanitizers has led to a increase in accidental poisoning, involving most children. According to data from the National Poison Data System, 938 cases of hand sanitizer exposure were reported to the 55 U.S. poison control centers over a 10-day period from Jan. 1, 2021 to Jan. 10, an increase of 57% from a year ago. Of those cases, nearly 600 involved children aged 5 and under.
“Over the course of the ongoing pandemic, the agency has seen a surge in hand sanitizers from Mexico that were labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but tested positive for methanol contamination,” the FDA said.
Long list of recalls
The FDA has been warning consumers against using a long list of hand sanitizers that contain methanol for months, calling them a serious safety concern that has resulted in blindness, hospitalization and death. Exposure to methanol can also cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, blurred vision, seizures, coma and permanent nervous system damage, the agency said.
“Consumer use of hand sanitizers has increased significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, especially when soap and water are inaccessible, and the availability of poor quality products with dangerous and unacceptable ingredients will not be tolerated,” said Judy McMeekin, an associate commissioner. for regulatory affairs with the FDA, said in the statement Tuesday.
The import warning – the agency’s first for a category of a drug, it said – follows an FDA analysis that found that 84% of Mexican hand sanitizers sampled from April to December 2020 did not comply with the FDA- regulations. A majority of the samples contained dangerous amounts of toxic ingredients, including methanol and / or 1-propanol.
Shipments of hand sanitizers from Mexico can now be detained by the FDA and will be subject to tighter surveillance, the agency said.