The FDA is very serious when it comes to safety. They warn consumers and health care professionals about hand sanitizers that contain methanol, also known as wood alcohol, because it is a dangerous and toxic substance. “Methanol can cause serious side effects when absorbed through the skin and can cause blindness or death when swallowed,” according to the FDA. For more info, visit fda.gov/information-drug-class. 

     According to ABC News, one of the most well known hand sanitizers contains 70% ethyl alcohol. This hand sanditizer is Purell. Hospitals mostly use Purrell. On the other hand, scienceabc.com, says, “The sentence “kills 99.99% of germs” is a marketing term, no doubt about it. This is a very smart way of telling consumers that a disinfectant can kill almost all the germs present in a particular area.”

     Sanitizing reduces the amount of bacteria on the surface, but does not kill or destroy bacteria. Sanitizing also does not kill viruses from surfaces. It just slows down the amount of bacteria on a surface to a safe level. Bleach is the most common and cheapest disinfectant, it eliminates 99.9% of bacteria, viruses, and mold or mildew.

     It is very important for us here at HAHS to stay away from germs. Mrs. Long, school nurse, prefers Purell but will use anything that is available. Germs can cause many bad things to the human body. Also, germs mostly cause sickness. Sickness spreads quickly and is not good when traveling around school. We have multiple varieties of hand sanitizers. Such as, Fresh & Clean, Symmetry, and Blue Cedar. There are many more out there but these seem to be the ones we have at HAHS.