Comments on: Hand Sanitizers: The Hidden Dangers

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:42:10 +0000

I would like to tell you not to use antibacterial soap containing triclosan. Triclosan has been found to be harmful. It kills all germs, including the good germs that you want to have around to protect you. It is harmful to sea life and lots of it goes down our drains. If you look up triclosan on the internet you can real a lot more.

Stores should not have hand sanitizers in reach of children.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:12:54 +0000

The dead germs and 1% of the commonly tested germs plus any viruses and resistant or germs unreached by the sanitizer would stay on the hands unless the are wiped off or washed off by gel dripping off of the hands.
NY & PA Departments of Education both have policies that state soap and water must be used first in a school building with sanitizers ONLY as an adjunct or when soap and water is not available like on a field trip to a real field. The FDA, CDC and most health departments agree. No excuses.

By: debbie thomas

debbie thomas — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:02:40 +0000

I work at a elementary school, and our children want to know what happens to the dirt and germs on your hands when you use hand sanitizers. as with soap and water you wash them away, but where do they go with sanitizers? HELP

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:59:44 +0000

Liz, thanks for your comments. I have read that triclosan is bad for the environment. We no longer purchase hand soaps containing triclosan, though it’s a bit hard to find liquid soaps without them now. I hear Trader Joe’s has a good line of natural, non-anti-bacterial liquid soaps.

I have explained to my children that hand sanitizers kill the germs, but still leave the dead germs on your hands. We always wash our hands as soon as we can get to a sink to get rid of any germs, dead or alive.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:45:53 +0000

Singing the ABCs while washing hands is a good way to teach children how long to wash also.

I want to comment on antibacterial soaps. They contain triclosan which is extremely harmful to the environment and the kill the good germs as well, so plain old fashioned soap and water are preferred to antibacterials. I avoid hand sanitizers except when there is no soap and water available which is rare. I think schools should provide time for children to use soap and water before eating and avoid the use of sanitizers and baby wipes. There may be harmful synthetic chemicals on the wipes and those would then be ingested. There are cases of children ingesting sanitizers and they can be found on snopes.com. see Environmentalworkinggroup.org or safbaby.com for more info on synthetic chemicals which have not been proven to be safe.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:14:06 +0000

Thanks, Talia, that’s a good tip. I heard about singing Happy Birthday before, but forgot to post it.

To representatives of the non-alcohol based products such as CleanWell and Hands2Go, how do you respond to the CDC and other recommendations to use an alcohol based hand sanitizer?

By: Talia

Talia — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:06:55 +0000

Yes, I prefer to wash my hands as well, however, if you’re not washing them diligently for a minimum of 20 seconds, you’re not washing properly. My son’s daycare taught him to sing Happy Birthday and then he knows he’s done while washing. Note that Wet Ones and other non-alcohol based antibacterial wipes/sprays are NOT strong enough to fight H1N1, so be sure to use Purell or wash hands properly to fight it off. Lysol, Clorox and other wipes are effective in cleaning surfaces as well.

By: Elaine M.

Elaine M. — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:00:27 +0000

Liz, I agree that soap and warm water is best, when available. We only use hand sanitizers as a last resort. Thanks for the safbaby link, too.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:04:23 +0000

For information of safe products for babies, I suggest you look at safbaby.com.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:02:43 +0000

My opinion is that we should not use antibacterial products. Triclosan is usually the main ingredient and it is very harmful to the environment. Regular soap and water do a very good job of killing germs and sanitizers should only be used when water is not available.