Hand Sanitizer Abuse in Teens – A Growing Concern!

By now several products of day-to-day use have been used by people for their alcoholic properties, more commonly amongst them being medicines. However when six Los Angeles teens drunk hand sanitizers tempted by the alcohol in it and were admitted to hospitals due to poisoning, it has become a serious concern about how much care parents will have to take buying any product for the household.

It has happened in the last six months, when six teenagers in the Los Angeles area were admitted to the emergency rooms for alcohol poisoning after consuming the easily available cheap product, the hand sanitizer.

62% of ethyl alcohol in the hand sanitizers obviously tempts teenagers to drink it for getting a kick. And there is a very easy way to get pure alcohol out of it too. Just add salt to it and the alcohol is separated! It thus becomes hard liquor!

Doctors are at one that the hand sanitizers are dangerous to drink and have recommended to buy foamy sanitizers, as it is more difficult to segregate alcohol from them, probably discouraging teenagers from consuming it.

And it is not only the Los Angeles teens, but four teens from Indianapolis area have also been reported to be admitted as poisoning cases after ingesting hand sanitizers. And it is shocking that since 2002, 41 such cases have been found statewide.

It tastes quite bad, doctors say. They say that children consume mouthwashes too to be drunk. Now it is the hand sanitizer on the list.

The 62% ethyl alcohol in the hand sanitizer can make a person feel nauseous and dizzy. The person can lose consciousness and if a high amount is consumed, the person can actually die of respiratory failure.

Luckily hand sanitizers are available in small bottles. But if someone gets hold of a large pack, that could be certainly problematic.

When taken in small amounts, hand sanitizer dependence is comparatively easy to treat. The patient would have to take some fluids with vitamins and have to sleep it off. So no lasting effects are seen. However if a family member is having alcohol problem, it is wise to buy other product. Having said this, there is another drawback of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and it is that, they are inflammable.

There are many non-alcoholic hand sanitizers available in the market and families should use them as per the doctors’ strong recommendations. These sanitizers are also effective on the germ-killing front up to as much as 99.99%. Thus non-alcoholic or soap-based hand sanitizers and also plain soap and water can become better alternatives for your family’s safety.