People were buying hand sanitizer in such a frenzy during the pandemic onset that the more well-known brands alone weren’t enough. They ran out of stock too quickly, so new labels emerged to supply the demand. The rush led some manufacturers to cut corners. It reached the point last year that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had to recall several hand sanitizer brands for containing toxic methanol (wood alcohol).
This year, Valisure, an independent pharmacy and lab found high benzene concentrations in hand sanitizers. Benzene is an industrial chemical and a known carcinogen. The company tested 168 brands. In total, they tested 260 hand sanitizer products and found that 44 of them had some amount of benzene. Of those, 21 products had benzene levels above the FDA limit.
Valisure CEO David Light told CBS News:
I was shocked that we were finding benzene at all. It might very well be the most well-known… compound that is dangerous to humans.
Typically, the FDA bans the cancer-causing chemical in drug manufacturing. However, the coronavirus pandemic prompted such a high demand for hand sanitizer that the FDA allowed an interim limit of just two parts per million in liquid hand sanitizers.
Watchdog group Public Citizen found this to be preposterous, arguing that the FDA shouldn’t have allowed any benzene in sanitizer at all. Sidney Wolfe, the group’s founder, told Bloomberg:
It has been taken out of most products, and for it not to be taken out of a product that is here to prevent people from getting exposed to coronavirus is inexcusable. Most of these don’t have any detectable levels. If it is possible to have hand sanitizers that don’t have any detectable levels, it is inexcusable that the FDA doesn’t ban any hand sanitizer that contains any detectable level.
Perhaps most concerning is the hand sanitizer is used topically, and benzene could be absorbed through the skin. Meaning it can easily seep into the bloodstream. The worse part is that benzene is known to cause blood cancers like leukemia.
FDA studies have found that chemicals with a similar structure, like sunscreen, have appeared in the bloodstream after being applied to the skin.
Furthermore, people could be exposing themselves to dangerously high concentrations of benzene, depending on how much hand sanitizer they use throughout the day. There are no recommended guidelines for the application of hand sanitizer. Hence, Valisure filed a petition with the FDA asking it to set exposure limit guidance for benzene and recall any contaminated products.
Light said:
As an example, when you’re on a diet, you may need to keep track of the total amount of sugar that you consume in a day. Having one small slice of cake with a high ‘concentration’ of sugar might be fine. Eating the whole cake would amount to a very different total’ exposure’ of sugar, even though each serving would have the same ‘concentration’ of sugar. Hand sanitizer products are typically used in many times greater volume than standard drug products like tablets or capsules, so even a relatively low concentration limit can result in very high total exposure. This powerfully underscores the need for a daily limit in addition to a concentration limit.
Of the product Valisure tested, the most contaminated one is by Artnaturals. According to a Bloomberg report, it contains 16 parts per million of benzene. Other highly contaminated hand sanitizers include products by Best Brands Consumer Products, The Crème Shop, Candles Inc., and Scentsational. You can find the complete list here.
