155 Possible health risks caused by applying commercially available alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitizers are promoted to interrupt the transmission of viruses since appropriate hand hygiene is another crucial measure for personal protection following wearing face masks. Hand sanitizers can be of various types, such as anti-microbial-based, alcohol-free, or alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS), in the form of gel, foams, cream spray, or wipes. Some organizations, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), have also provided the guideline that effective hand sanitizer products should contain 60%–95% alcohol. However, some hand sanitizers may have the ingredient leading to specific health effects. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the impurities in the commercially available hand sanitizers. A total of 85 samples were collected, and the target chemicals that GC/MS determined included methanol, acetaldehyde, acetone, ethyl acetate, isobutanol, benzene, acetal, 1-propanol, 2-butanol, 1-butanol 3-methyl-1-butanol, and amyl alcohol. The findings showed that certain impurities were detected in the samples. Especially for benzene and acetaldehyde, the mean of benzene was 14.27μg/g (range: 1.57-33.99), and acetaldehyde was 100.16μg/g (range:30.09-429.03). For the non-carcinogenic risk, with the maximum level of benzene, the non-carcinogenic risk is greater than 1 (range: 1.04-4.66). For the cancer risk, the cancer risk of benzene in each group was from 1.44×10-8 to 2.11×10-7 (calculated by the geometric mean level). Overall, specific samples were not qualified for the alcohol content, and the impurities detected contributed to the potential health risk.