Hey Everyone;
I just got an alert E-mail from the EMS Division Director at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. He wanted all EMTs in the state to read and understand the significance of this recent CDC announcement:
Link: https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2020/han00434.asp
In a nutshell, the CDC discovered that a Mexico-based company called "Eskbiochem SA de CV" has been selling hand sanitizer with methanol in it, rather than isopropyl alcohol or ethanol. (D'oh!) Obviously methanol can be readily absorbed through the skin, and repeated exposure can cause liver and kidney failure, blindness, and even death. Children are especially vulnerable. I looked up the minimum lethal dose (for ingestion anyway) and I was surprised to see it was estimated at just 1 gram/KG of body weight! So, yeah, definitely no bueno...
Apart from that one manufacturer listed in the CDC announcement, the US FDA just issued a bunch of recalls for products from other manufacturers (again, all from Mexico) who *claim* to be using ethanol, but when their products were tested the FDA found significant levels of methanol contamination. The FDA website has a list of 46 products (along with lot numbers) that have been recalled due to methanol contamination.
Link: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safet...izers-methanol
So the take-away is "Don't buy any hand sanitizer that was made in Mexico". Just thought I'd pass it on.
Adam