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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCDC Warns Against Drinking Hand Sanitizer Amid Reports of Deaths
The incidents happened after President Donald Trump mused on ingesting disinfectants to treat the novel coronavirus.
The agency detailed 15 cases of methanol poisoning in its weekly report, including four patients who remain hospitalized and three who were released with permanent visual impairment. Just four of the 15 fully recovered, the agency said Wednesday.
This investigation highlights the serious adverse health events, including death, that can occur after ingesting alcohol-based hand sanitizer products containing methanol,
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underpants
(183,157 posts)Thats sad.
jayfish
(10,041 posts)I was just about to suck down this bottle.
Crunchy Frog
(26,725 posts)I guess I'm going to have to change my drinking habits.
Maru Kitteh
(28,352 posts)hand sanitizer is in short supply and sometimes obtained from very sketchy sources, some of them poisonous.
ProfessorGAC
(65,562 posts)The bulk of those products are made from SDA 40B ethanol.
That denaturation is done by adding t-butyl alcohol which is a strong emetic.
Since the sanitizer is 140 proof, the amount of TBA is highly significant to our digestive system.
For the vast majority of people, the equivalent of one shot would cause repeat vomiting.
It also contains denatonium saccharide, which the bitterest compound known. Makes chewing a hundred aspirin taste like fine chocolate. You can taste the bitter at 3 or 4 parts per billion. There's 100 parts per MILLION in the denatured alcohol. 27,000 times or so, the taste threshold. Just awful.
Out of curiosity, I put 1 crystal (maybe 20 milligrams) in 500 ml of 10% pure ethanol in water.
Put 2 drops on my tongue. Unbelievably bad tasting. Just awful!
If people are drinking that, they REALLY desperate. Especially since they're just going to puke it up!
Maru Kitteh
(28,352 posts)for this reason. Desperate people are desperate.
in a psych hospital. Someone will attempt to drink, swallow or eat ANYTHING.
Maru Kitteh
(28,352 posts)"The CDC report included 15 cases of methanol poisoning in New Mexico and Arizona that occurred in May and June. The average age was 43, and 13 of the cases were in men. Several of the cases were among American Indians/Alaska Natives, though the report does not detail the exact number. All 15 individuals were hospitalized, and four people died. Another three developed vision problems, a known side effect of methanol poisoning.
All of the cases detailed in the report had had blood tests to confirm the presence of methanol. Additionally, all of the individuals reported past hand sanitizer ingestion."
ProfessorGAC
(65,562 posts)I was talking about the products legal in the US, that contain ethanol.
Those products containing methanol never should have been sold in the US.
Both the FDA claim approved formulary & the EPA registrations only allow for the use of ethanol (natural or specially denatured) or isopropanol.
My other post was about the effects of the denaturant and why it's so difficult to consume them.
I never disputed the methanol consumption event, because I read that a couple months ago.
Amazon & Walgreen's (among others) pulled those products made at a site in Mexico from their stock. It was because of the danger, and the fact that it's not legal to sell them!
riversedge
(70,588 posts)Response to riversedge (Reply #5)
ProfessorGAC This message was self-deleted by its author.
Cirque du So-What
(26,060 posts)by packaging their hand sanitizer in what appears to b bottles of booze.
ProfessorGAC
(65,562 posts)All on-line sellers of that Mexican company's products were pulled due to methanol content.
Methanol is not allowed per the FDA formulary or EPA registrations.
American manufacturers use denatured ethanol or isopropanol
These never should have been offered for sale in the u.s.
Yavin4
(35,459 posts)CDC: Don't touch a hot stove.
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