Is Hand Sanitizer Harmful to Children?

I love hand sanitizer. I use it all the time and always feel like my hands are getting super clean without having to be washed as often which dries my skin. Today however, I got an email forward about how hand sanitizer may be dangerous to use on kids. I have sanitized my sons hands once maybe twice with hand sanitizer but it is not my preferece to use on him. I want him to learn how to wash his hands properly using soap and water and sanitizer always seemed like a harsh alternative on such a little person.

Here is the email that I was sent…..

Yesterday, my youngest daughter, Halle who is just 4 years old, was rushed to the ER by her father for being severely lethargic and incoherent in her classroom. He was called to her school by the school secretary who said that she was ‘very very sick’!

He told me that when he arrived at her classroom, Halle was barely sitting in the chair. She couldn’t hold her own head up and when he looked into her eyes, she couldn’t focus them. He immediately scooped her up and rushed her to the closest ER, and then called me. When he got there, they ran blood test after blood test and did x-rays, every test imaginable. Her white blood cell count was normal, nothing was out of the ordinary. When I arrived at the ER, the doctor there told us that he had done everything that he could do so he was transferring her to Saint Francis Hospital for further tests.

Right as we were leaving in the ambulance, her teacher arrived at the ER and told us that after questioning Halle’s classmates, she had found out that our little girl had licked liquid hand sanitizer off of her hands!!!

Hand sanitizer, of all things. But is makes sense. These days they have all kinds of different scents and flavors and when you have a curious child, they are going to put all kinds of things into their mouths.

When we arrived at the Saint Francis’ Hospital ER, we told the ER doctor there to check her blood alcohol level, and yes we did get weird looks, but the did it. The results showed her blood alcohol level was .85 – six hours after we first took her. There’s no telling what it would have been if we would have requested it at the first ER.

Since then, her school and a few surrounding schools have taken the liquid hand sanitizers out of all the lower grade classes, but what’s to stop middle and high schoolers from ingesting this stuff? After doing research on the Internet, we found out that it only takes about 3 squirts of the stuff ingested to be fatal to a toddler. For her blood alcohol level to be so high, it would be like someone her size  drinking120 proof liquor. So PLEASE  PLEASE don’t disregard this because we don’t ever want another family to go through what ours has gone through.

This can also be verified on truth or fiction, see below…
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hand-sanitizer..htm
This story was verified at: (http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp )

After reading this email – and checking the links to truthorfiction.com and snopes.com I felt compelled to write about this. My favorite product for keeping my little monkeys hands clean are Wet Ones – I ALWAYS carry baby wipes and Wet Ones. Wet Ones are the little wipes you get when you eat ribs. They are perfect for cleaning hands, faces, feet, whatever and are antibacterial. There also come in different containers that make it easier to use and carry.

Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier

Thieves® Waterless Hand Purifier is an all-natural hand purifier designed to cleanse and refresh the hands. Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier can be used by adults and children to keep hands clean and promote good hygiene, without the use of water. Dermatologist tested.