PSA: Toxic Sanitizer

[writerkit]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/07/mounting-poisonings-blindness-deaths-as-toxic-hand-sanitizers-flood-market/?fbclid=IwAR0VW7df86MJFVM7NPRroZxlxpShUbjVdlgmq_75rstX4rteGvZA4cGdA_o

The FDA has issued a warning for several sanitizer brands because they're containing methanol, which is toxic.

Seriously, super, incredibly toxic. It breaks down into *formaldehyde*, y'all.

Comments

[writerkit]

It's not overblown; it's targeted at the general public, the vast majority of whom are not capable of sitting down and doing the kind of analysis you just did here or consistently maintaining the sort of safety standards you describe. Note that the reason it was discovered in the first place was because there were several deaths and cases of permanent blindness; that argues that your risk assessment here does not apply when applied across larger groups in reality.

[squirrelitude]

The general public doesn't need to do that kind of analysis. I think the FDA's messaging is actually entirely reasonable here: « Methanol, or wood alcohol, is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested and can be life-threatening when ingested. » And I don't think the general public need to maintain strict safety standards either -- the FDA says "don't buy these brands", and I agree with that. It's just that I think the risk of ignoring or missing that recommendation are being overblown in the press and social media.

I'm guessing that some of the cases are intentional ingestion by alcoholic adults, similar to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Irkutsk_mass_methanol_poisoning -- but the FDA is being cagey about the nature of the actual incidents, so who knows.