My Children. My Opinions. My Tales.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Hand Sanitizer Danger

An email has been circulating since January of this year about hand sanitizers poisoning two young children. I wasn't sure if the email had any validity to it, so I researched and found it is indeed true.

Here is an AP article that ran on WPXI in Pittsburgh...

Alcohol In Hand Sanitizer Can Mean Danger
E-Mails Warn Of Poisoning In Children
POSTED: 11:55 am EDT May 30, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An e-mail circulating claims that a child spent two days in a hospital and nearly died after drinking a common product -- hand sanitizer.
Nashville television station WSMV reported that the warning appears to be legitimate. Snopes.com, a site that specializes in dispelling urban legends, confirmed two cases of severe alcohol poisoning from children drinking hand sanitizer.
Experts say a bottle of hand sanitizer can be 124 proof, which is a higher alcohol content than whiskey.
Tennessee Poison Control said they receive an average of one call a day about an accidental ingestion of hand sanitizer, and it has been banned from many prisons across the country because inmates were using it to get drunk, the station reported.


Now, if you are like me and carry a bottle of this stuff everywhere, please use caution and keep out of reach of your children.

If you do need immediate medical assistance, be sure to have the poison control number on hand...

1-800-222-1222

1 comment:

Bob said...

Or you can opt for an alcohol-free hand sanitizer from CLEANpHIRST™ that's safe, non-toxic and more effective than the leading brands.