4 Deaths and 26 Hospitalizations in Arizona Caused by Fake Hand Sanitizer Made with Methanol

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to warn the public about dangerous hand sanitizer products made with methanol, noting that “Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death.”  The FDA issued over 70 different recall notices for imported hand sanitizers.  According to USA Today, four Arizona residents have died, and another 26 had to be hospitalized after ingesting methanol-tainted hand sanitizer.

 Dr. Steve Dudley, the Director of Arizona’s Poison and Drug Information Center, told USA Today that some of the affected experienced symptoms such as visual disturbances, vision loss and severely altered mental status.

 A USA Today report from July 6th stated that all the methanol-laced hand sanitizers for which warnings have been issued were made in Mexico. However, the FDA has also issued recalls for dozens of hand sanitizer products produced in Mexico that were being marketed by U.S. companies based in California and Texas.

Update: On July 27, FDA has issued additional warnings about hand sanitizers contaminated with methanol. Read all about it here.