Adulterated, methanol-based sanitizers can cost you your vision

While hand-sanitizers have become a household essential in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, substandard sanitizers with ingredients like methanol could do more harm than good.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an American government agency that protects public health by doing quality-checks on medicines, biological equipment, etc.

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The FDA recently warned citizens about the dangers of methanol-based hand sanitizers. Using the same could lead to “nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death,” according to the FDA advisory.

The body also warns consumers about the dangers of sanitizers that claim to offer “24-hour protection”, since no product has definitely been tested to offer the same.

Ethanol and ethanol-based sanitizers should ideally be used. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using a hand-sanitizer with at least 60 percent ethanol.

During the pandemic, while the fear of Covid-19 looms large, people are advised to wash their hands frequently and up to 20 seconds.