FDA to Allow Certain Hand Sanitizer Impurities

The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will allow certain impurities in alcohol-based sanitizers to meet the public health demands during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relaxed guidelines will directly affect fuel ethanol companies that began making sanitizer at the beginning of the pandemic.

The FDA is working with industry to ensure that harmful levels of impurities are not present if ethanol is used in these products. Based on careful review and consideration of available data, we are specifying interim levels of certain impurities that we have determined can be tolerated for a relatively short period of time, given the emphasis on hand hygiene during the COVID-19 public health emergency and to avoid exacerbating access issues for alcohol-based hand sanitizer.”

FDA

Related: Data Shows How To Protect Against Coronavirus

This announcement is in direct contrast to the agency’s position in April, when it told several fuel ethanol companies that their sanitizers didn’t meet safety standards. Two ingredients under particular scrutiny are acetaldehyde, a carcinogen, and benzene.

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ABC Says Homemade Sanitizers Don’t Work For Coronavirus – We Disagree, So Here’s a Recipe

There are more than 14,000 reported cases of CoVID-19 in the United States, and numbers are only expected to rise as testing becomes more readily available. The EPA recently released its list of approved disinfectants for the virus. Clorox and Lysol wipes and sprays were among the list of various other products, 287 in all. You can view the EPA’s approved list of disinfectants here. To see if your product can kill CoVID-19, the EPA suggests looking for the EPA registration number to see if it shows up on the list of approved disinfectants.

Shortly after the EPA released its approved list of disinfectants ABC News released an article titled “EPA releases list of approved disinfectants to kill coronavirus, and why homemade sanitizer won’t work”. This, however, is misleading because the article fails to mention homemade hand sanitizers at all. It does, however, point out that the EPA does not test “household products” such as vinegar when testing approved disinfectants.

EPA does not review other household products, such as vinegar, or whether they’re effective against viruses and bacteria, the spokesperson said”

EPA releases list of approved disinfectants to kill coronavirus, and why homemade sanitizer won’t work

Hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol can also reduce the number of germs on your hands to a lesser extent, but CDC said products that are alcohol-free or have a lower percentage of alcohol are not as effective.”

EPA releases list of approved disinfectants to kill coronavirus, and why homemade sanitizer won’t work

According to the CDC, compared to washing with soap, hand sanitizer is not as effective at eliminating germs for a couple of different reasons. Hand sanitizer is not effective at removing toxic chemicals such as pesticides or heavy metals and when hands are visibly dirty or greasy hand sanitizer is shown to be less effective. Overall, hand sanitizer eliminates fewer germs than soap. So while the article says that hand sanitizers with less than 60% alcohol are not as effective the article neglects to mention that the CDC recommends hand washing above hand sanitizer whenever possible, And the article fails to explain that one can easily make him or herself homemade sanitizer that is just as effective as the commercial products, without the useless ingredients like perfumes..

CDC recommends washing hands with soap and water whenever possible because handwashing reduces the amounts of all types of germs and chemicals on hands. But if soap and water are not available, using a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol can help you avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. The guidance for effective handwashing and use of hand sanitizer in community settings was developed based on data from a number of studies.”

Show Me the Science – When & How to Use Hand Sanitizer in Community Settings

While this article attempts to steer one away from homemade household cleaners, there are several homemade products you can use that do have antimicrobial properties. They are often more affordable and gentler on the body than store-bought EPA approved products.

Simply create your own hand sanitizer with the right percentage of alcohol:

isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol – 99 percent alcohol volume
aloe vera gel (or water or both)
an essential oil (optional)

Use a 2-1 ratio, or 60-70% alcohol with this solution. Water works as a spray, aloe works as a gel.

If Rubbing alcohol irritates your skin check out this alternative. Vinegar (consider an eco-friendly industrial strength for recipes) is another option to consider. The active ingredients are antimicrobial, but they have not been tested by the EPA and are not guaranteed to kill CoVID-19. If you are wondering what the best way to stay healthy right now, check out our complete guide to COVID 19.

Sources

Super-Bacteria Are Becoming Resistant to Alcohol-based Disinfectants

A new Australian study has discovered that Enterococcus faecium, a bacteria already resistant to several drugs, has also evolved in response to the alcohol solutions used to disinfect in hospital settings. According to the study,

Alcohol-based disinfectants and particularly hand rubs are a key way to control hospital infections worldwide. Such disinfectants restrict transmission of pathogens, such as multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium. Despite this success, health care infections caused by E. faecium are increasing. We tested alcohol tolerance of 139 hospital isolates of E. faecium obtained between 1997 and 2015 and found that E. faecium isolates after 2010 were 10-fold more tolerant to killing by alcohol than were older isolates.”

Understanding Balance

Sanitation has been hailed as one way to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C.diff). Sanitizers with at least 60 percent alcohol are recommended by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Both organizations cite alcohol-based disinfectants ability to annihilate bacteria. This leaves the microbiome like a blank slate, and like with any power vacuum, a new bacteria steps in to fill the void. In this case, it’s E. faecium.

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Enterococci bacteria are behind some of the most commonly experienced infections, particularly UTIs, pelvic infections, and endocarditis. Most of the E. faecium strains that cause these infections originate in the gut, which isn’t a surprise. Like another likely cause of infection, candida, E. faecium is found in 90% of human intestines. It isn’t an inherently harmful bacteria. The problem occurs when the gut isn’t able to balance out the microbes, and E. faecium takes over to the detriment of the entire system.

Recommended: How to Cure Lyme Disease, and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection, Naturally

Looking at It Right Side Up

This is the biggest problem with our understanding of microbes and antibiotics. We talk about how dangerous a bacteria is or how serious infections caused by that fungus are…but odds are good you have been living with those organisms all of your life without issue. What’s changed?

The importance of your gut bacteria and properly balancing them cannot be overstated. By killing all of the bacteria, antibiotics allow the quickest ones to take over more easily. Antibiotics also destroy the hard work of building up your beneficial bacteria. Think of them like a helpful two-year-old. They want to do the right thing and help clean up, but you’re left with an even bigger mess than you started with.