Popular brands of hand sanitizer and aloe vera recalled for a common ingredient that the FDA warns can cause comas and blindness
- The products were found to contain methanol, which is toxic to humans
- Young children who accidentally ingest hand sanitizer are at greatest risk
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Popular brands of hand sanitizer and aloe have been recalled due to a common ingredient that can cause comas and blindness.
About 40 lots of Aruba Aloe Hand Sanitizer Gel Alcohol 80 percent and Aruba Aloe Alcoholada Gel hand sanitizer were pulled from shelves because they contained methanol.
A notice from the FDA says customers should stop using the products and throw them away. Hand sanitizers in particular have become more popular since the Covid pandemic.
“Significant exposure to methanol” can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, coma, seizures, permanent blindness, permanent damage to the central nervous system or even death, the agency said.
Approximately 40 lots of Aruba Aloe Hand Sanitizer Gel Alcohol 80 percent and Aruba Aloe Alcoholada Gel hand sanitizer have been recalled
Aruba Aloe Alcoholada Gel is an analgesic gel used to temporarily reduce pain and itching associated with minor burns, sunburn, insect bites or minor skin irritations. It has been recalled due to its methanol content
Young children who accidentally ingest the hand sanitizer and young adults who drink hand sanitizer as an alcohol substitute are at the greatest risk of methanol poisoning, the FDA warned.
Aruba Aloe Balm NV, the maker of the hand sanitizers, has not received any reports of adverse events related to these products to date.
Methanol is often purposefully added to alcoholic drinks or products as a cheaper alternative to ethanol β which is used to make regular alcohol that can be consumed.
The affected hand sanitizers are packaged in dark green 12 fl oz plastic bottles with a white label that reads βARUBA ALOE Hand Sanitizer GEL 80% Alcohol Made in Aruba World’s Finest Aloe.β
They are used to clean people’s hands and reduce bacteria that could potentially cause illness.
The other affected product is the Aruba Aloe Alcoholada Gel, a pain-relieving gel used to temporarily reduce pain and itching associated with minor burns, sunburn, insect bites or minor skin irritations.
It is available in two sizes: 2.2 fl oz and 8.5 fl oz plastic bottles.
The products were sold online in the US through the Aruba Aloe Balm NV website between May 1, 2021 and October 27, 2023.
Methanol, also called methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, is a colorless liquid with a sharp alcohol odor that is used to disinfect surfaces.
Although it occurs naturally in wood, it is poisonous to humans and animals and can cause serious damage to organs in the body if someone swallows it, inhales it, or gets it on the skin.
According to the Methanol Institute, it should not be used in hand sanitizer.
The FDA does not quantify “substantial methanol exposure,” but according to research published on the NIH websitea potentially fatal dose of methanol is about 30 to 240 ml, or one gram per kilogram.
Permanent visual damage can occur from ingesting as little as 30 ml of methanol, the report said.