Children and Teens Getting Drunk on Hand Sanitizers, Poison Control Centers Say

Poison control centers across the country are reporting increasing numbers of calls related to children younger than 12 ingesting hand sanitizers that contain alcohol.

The Georgia Poison Center said there has been an increase of nearly 400 percent in such calls to poison hotlines since since 2010, CNN reports. A small bottle of sanitizer can have as much ethanol—the intoxicating chemical in liquor—as five shots of hard liquor.

In Georgia, a six-year-old swallowed three or four squirts of liquid hand sanitizer at school. She drank it,  she said, because it tasted like strawberries. She ingested enough alcohol to become dangerously drunk and when she was taken to the emergency room, she was slurring her words and could not walk, CNN reports.

Dr. Gaylord Lopez, who is director of the Georgia Poison Center, said, “Kids are getting into these products more frequently, and unfortunately, there’s a percentage of them going to the emergency room.” The amount of alcohol in hand sanitizers ranges from 45 to 95 percent. (Wine and beer, in comparison, contain about 12 percent and 5 percent alcohol, respectively, Lopez said.) Even small amounts of hand sanitizer—as little as two or three squirts in some cases—can cause alcohol poisoning in a small child.

Confusion, vomiting and drowsiness are among the effects of alcohol poisoning. A child can suffer life-threatening effects including hypothermia and liver injury. In severe cases, a child can stop breathing or go into a coma.

The doctor who treated the Georgia girl in the emergency room said her blood-alcohol level was .179—twice what’s considered legally drunk in an adult. While the girl was intoxicated, she fell and hit her head so doctors kept her overnight in the hospital to watch for signs of brain trauma,

The Georgia Poison Center tallied reports nationwide of calls related to hand sanitizers and young children. For 2010, they found reports of 3,266 cases but the number increased to 16,117 cases in 2014. Dr. Lopez recently sent a warning to Georgia school systems about the dangers of children drinking hand sanitizer. Some children, especially older ones, drink it intentionally to get drunk; others do it on a dare from friends. Sanitizers with fruit fragrances appeal to younger children, who may drink them because they think the liquid will taste good.

“A kid is not thinking this is bad for them,” Lopez said. “A lot of the more attractive [hand sanitizers] are the ones that are scented. There are strawberry, grape, orange-flavored hand sanitizers that are very appealing to kids.”

Lopez advises parents and teachers to store alcohol-containing hand sanitizers out of reach of children and carefully supervise sanitizer use, giving children only a small amount. Non-alcohol based products or sanitizing wipes can also be substituted for alcohol-containing sanitizers. Even though wipes may contain alcohol, a child cannot ingest a dangerous amount of alcohol from wipes. The American Association of Poison Control Centers recommends that parents avoid hand sanitizers with sweet fragrances that would be appealing to young children. According to experts, it’s best, if possible, to wash hands with soap under running water and use hand sanitizers when soap and water are not available.

from Parker Waichman http://www.yourlawyer.com/blog/children-and-teens-getting-drunk-on-hand-sanitizers-poison-control-centers-say/