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Gel hand sanitizers can help lower the risk of
illness, especially during cold-and-flu season, but these products can pose
a risk to children if ingested. Are there safe alternatives that work just
as well?
A 2005 study from Children’s Hospital in Boston
compared illness rates across a study group of 292 families; half of them
got hand sanitizers, and the other half were given literature advising them
of the benefits of frequent handwashing. The findings revealed that those
families who used hand sanitizers experienced a 59 percent reduction in
gastrointestinal illnesses and that the increased use of sanitizers
correlated to a decreased spread of contagions in general.
Another study, conducted at Colorado State
University, yielded similar conclusions: that alcohol-based hand sanitizers
were as much as twice as effective as either regular soap or antibacterial
soap at reducing germs on human hands. A Purdue University study, however,
concluded that although alcohol-based hand sanitizers may kill more germs
than plain or triclosan-based soaps, they do not prevent more infections
that make people sick. Instead, they may kill the human body’s own
beneficial bacteria by stripping the skin of its outer layer of oil. The downside of the gel/alcohol products is their
danger as a poison, especially for young children, who may ingest the gel
by licking it off their hands or eating it directly from dispensers. Purell
and Germ-X, two of the leading brands, each contain 62 percent ethyl
alcohol. This alcohol is what gives the products their germ-busting power,
but it also puts kids at risk of alcohol poisoning. A few squirts of the
hand sanitizer — which is equivalent to124-proof booze — is
enough to make a kid’s blood alcohol level 0.10, which is the
equivalent of being legally drunk in most states. So what’s a concerned parent to do?
Unfortunately, the so-called greener alternatives out there aren’t
safe to swallow, either. EO Hand Sanitizer, for example, though it uses
organic lavender oil, also contains alcohol to sanitize the skin surface
and would also be considered a poison if a large enough amount was
ingested. Similarly greener (but still not safe to eat) products are
available from Avant and All Terrain. For now, soap and warm water — and constant
nagging of your kids to wash their hands — may be the safest way to
sanitize. Also, make sure that any hand-sanitizer dispensers you may still
use are kept out of the reach of little hands. But who knows how we’ll be sanitizing our hands
in the future. Researchers at Arizona State University have found that
certain types of natural clays pulled right from the ground are highly
effective at killing bacteria. One type of green clay has been shown to do
a number on Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, and other bacteria known to make people sick. But the research
is still in its infancy, so don’t expect to see moms pulling jars of
clay from their purses anytime soon.
For more information: EO
Products, www.eoproducts.com; OrganicBeautySource.com,
www.organicbeautysource.com; MotherNature.com, www.mothernature.com.
Send questions to Earth Talk at P.O. Box 5098,
Westport, CT 06881 or e-mail earthtalk@emagazine.com.
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2008.
