In the past five years, U.S. poison control centers have seen a rise in reports of hand sanitizer-induced drunkenness among children.
While hand sanitizers are useful in keeping hands clean, thus minimizing infection transmission, the ones based on ethanol alcohol also contain enough alcohol to elevate blood alcohol levels quickly and the sweet-smelling variants may prove to be too irresistible for children to taste. Considering the possibly fatal effects of alcohol toxicity, closer supervision of hand sanitizer usage both at home and school are needed to prevent more incidents.
There has been a near 400 percent increase of hand sanitizer ingestion incidents by children ages 12 and below, according to an analysis of reports by the Georgia Poison Center. While 3,266 hand sanitizer poisoning cases related to children were reported in 2010 alone, the number increased to 16,117 cases in 2014.
"Kids are getting into these products more frequently, and unfortunately, there's a percentage of them going to the emergency room," said Dr. Gaylord Lopez, the poison center's director. Reasons for sanitizer-induced drunkenness are varied. For younger children, the sanitizer's scent and even taste make for appealing drinks. For older children, there have been instances of deliberate consumption, either as dares among friends or even as an alternative alcoholic drink.
Unfortunately for both age groups, even just a sip of sanitizer is enough to do damage. Compared with wine, which has 12 percent alcohol level, and beer, 5 percent, hand sanitizers have alcohol content ranging from 45 percent to 95 percent.
"It doesn't take very much, less than a tablespoon, to make a child extremely drunk," Tama Sawyer, director of the University of Kansas Hospital poison control center, said. "It's the same concern you would have with any alcohol product." Symptoms of alcohol toxicity include confusion, nausea, vomiting, slurring of movement and speech, while the most severe manifestations include loss of consciousness, respiratory depression, coma and death.
Closer supervision of alcohol-based sanitizers is a must to prevent poisoning incidents, especially among younger children.
"A kid is not thinking this is bad for them," Lopez said. "A lot of the more attractive (hand sanitizers) are the ones that are scented. There are strawberry, grape, orange-flavored hand sanitizers that are very appealing to kids."
Lopez recommended that parents, guardians and teachers should keep hand sanitizers out of children's reach, opt for non-alcohol based alternatives or wipes, and to monitor distribution of alcohol-based ones.
Photo: Andrew Braithwaite | Flickr
