Artnaturals hand sanitizer
Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard / Bloomberg
Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard / Bloomberg
Some widely available hand sanitizers that U.S. consumers got last year to prevent coronavirus infection contain high levels of the chemical known to cause cancer, according to an analysis by a testing company.
According to an assortment of hand cleaning products that flooded the market after the disappearance of the basic pillars of the outlets, there are high levels of benzene. Valisure, an online pharmacy based in New Haven, Connecticut, that tests the quality and consistency of products.
Causes of benzene cancer, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He The World Health Organization’s cancer research group places it in the highest risk category, at the same level asbestos.
Valisure analyzed 260 bottles from 168 brands and found that 17% of the samples contained detectable levels of benzene. Twenty-one bottles, or 8%, contained benzene above two parts per million, a time limit set by the FDA for liquid hand sanitizers to facilitate supply.
This level “can be tolerated for a relatively short period of time,” according to the FDA he said in June. Fifteen brands were represented among the 21 bottles with the highest levels of contamination. The samples came from store shelves near headquarters and online outlets, Valisure said.
To view Valisure’s citizen petition to the FDA, including a list of brands identified with high levels of benzene, click here.
Urged by politicians and health officials to wash their hands, consumers quickly exhausted the supply of household names such as Purell and Suave. Although these brands, like most of the tested ones, did not contain unsafe benzene levels, Valisure reported, there were many new users. Some of these contaminated disinfectants were found for sale in Amazon.com Inc. i Target Corp. points of sale.
Most Valisure hand sanitizers found and tested were gels. The results of the pharmacy tests were verified by Yale University Center for Chemical and Biophysical Instrumentation and Boston Analytical, a private laboratory. On Wednesday, Valisure asked the Food and Drug Administration take action against contaminated products.
Brands of hand sanitizers with bottle tests of the highest levels of benzene detected by Valisure
1. artnaturals 9. concepts of beauty 2. Scentsational Soaps & Candles Inc. 10. PureLogic 3. huangjisoo 11. Miami Carry On 4. TrueWash 12. Natural wonder 5. The cream shop 13. clean-protect-disinfect 6. Star Wars Mandalorian 14. Pureta 7. Body prescriptions 15. Clean your hands 100 8. Born Basic
Blood cancers
“These findings are alarming and reveal a potentially serious risk to public health,” Valisure said in a petition signed by the CEO David Light and other executives. Previously, the pharmacy found high levels of other carcinogens in overseas-made pharmacological components for the U.S. market.
Read more: The U.S. love affair with cheap drugs has a hidden cost
It is unclear how benzene was present in the products. It may have been introduced during the manufacturing process when purifying germ-killing alcohol, Valisure said.
Among the most contaminated hand cleaners were products from artnaturals, Scentsational Soaps and Candles Inc., The Creme Shop and a Baby Yoda-themed bottle from Best Brands Consumer Products Inc. They all started selling the cleaners that Valisure tested in April or May 2020, according to FDA records. One natural disinfectant contained the most benzene of the samples, with 16 parts per million.
Calls and emails to manufacturers and retailers requesting feedback were not returned in the early United States. Walt Disney Co., which airs the series “The Mandalorian” featuring Baby Yoda’s character, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Baby hand sanitizer Yoda Better Brands
Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard / Bloomberg
Benzene has been linked to certain blood cancers, such as leukemias. Cigarette smoke accounts for about half of benzene exposure in the U.S. according to the American Cancer Society. Workers in certain chemical industries run the risk of being exposed to the material, which is used to make plastics and rubber.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says absorption and ingestion of the skin is also possible. In 1990, a local environmental official in North Carolina discovered benzene in Perrier water bottles which led the company to make a mass withdrawal and stop distribution to 120 countries. The company resumed bottling shortly after identifying and fixing the problem, and it was bought by Nestle SA in 1992.
USA, Chinese origin
Focusing on hand sanitizer safety, the FDA in January blocked imports of products from Mexico after it was found that many contained methanol, a form of alcohol that is poisonous to humans. Most of the products that Valisure contained high levels of benzene were made in China or the United States
The analysis also found high levels of methanol in hand sanitizers. A Scentsational product that tested high levels of benzene contained 14 times the methanol limit, which is 630 parts per million. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers should not normally contain methanol; they are usually made with ethanol or grain alcohol, which is also used in some beverages.
Valisure’s Light said it originally mocked the idea that there would be handwash products that possessed a dangerous carcinogen like benzene, but is now happy that scientific director Kaury Kucera is trying. Disinfectants could have been contaminated with benzene because it is sometimes used in alcohol purification, Valisure said.
Manufacturing process
While benzene must be removed in the final manufacturing steps after purifying the alcohol, it may not have been, Valisure said. Ice hand sanitizer is also made by adding a powder called a charcoal, often made with benzene, to create viscosity, the pharmacy said.
Read more: Carcinogen in Zantac and Generic Triggers FDA, EU Tests
It has also been found that the drugs contained carcinogens that were not properly washed during the manufacturing process or formed later as the drugs sat on the shelves. Contaminants include NDMA or N-nitrosodimethylamine, a likely carcinogen that was found in blood pressure pills in 2018, caused the withdrawal.
Valisure later detected NDMA in the generic drug Zantac and its generic forms, as well as metformin, a treatment for diabetes, which triggered additional actions. The FDA eventually demanded that Zantac and its generic form, ranitidine, be released from the United States. Some two dozen companies sold FDA-approved generic versions of the drug at that time.
In 2019, Valisure also identified elevated levels of a probable carcinogen called DMF or dimethylformamide in blood pressure medications. DMF is a solvent used during the early stages of drug manufacturing that is supposed to be washed from the final product. The FDA is looking more closely at manufacturers of ingredients that could use DMF.
Benzene is the third most dangerous cancer-causing chemical that the pharmacy has helped bring to light in product testing.
(Updates to the list of Valisure brands found with the highest levels of benzene)