A new warning has emerged from the government nanny agency known as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cautioning parents about the dangers of drinking hand sanitizers.
While this warning seems like a “no-brainer,” the CDC offers some startling numbers.
The caution comes with a new CDC report released March 3 that found 70,669 cases of children younger than 12 exposed to sanitizer poisoning from 2011 to 2014.
About 90 percent of those exposures happened among children younger than five, and most of them drank hand sanitizers made with alcohol.
“The majority of intentional exposures to alcohol hand sanitizers occurred in children aged 6-12 years,” the CDC report said. “Alcohol hand sanitizer exposures were associated with worse outcomes than were non-alcohol hand sanitizer exposures.”
“Very few” of the cases reported by poison treatment centers were considered serious.
“Hand sanitizers are effective and inexpensive products that can reduce microorganisms on the skin, but ingestion or improper use can be associated with health risks,” the CDC report states. “Many hand sanitizers contain up to 60% – 95% ethanol or isopropyl alcohol by volume, and are often combined with scents that might be appealing to young children.
“Recent reports have identified serious consequences, including apnea, acidosis, and coma in young children who swallowed alcohol-based (alcohol) hand sanitizer.”
Last year the CDC warned that children were showing up drunk from hand sanitizers in emergency rooms around the country.
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