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The mad scramble to produce alcohol hand sanitizers
A lot of discussion around the risks. But isn’t it normal to use denatured alcohol? For example with say methanol? This would negate concerns about the sanitizer becoming an alcoholic beverage for some?
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3 Replies
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It’s not becoming a beverage that concerns me. It’s the fact that methanol is highly absorbed by the skin and is a terrible toxin.
There is a study here for ethanol. A max blood level of 30mg/L was measured and it should be noted the UK drink-drive limit is 80mg/L. -
HERE is a link to a list of commonly used denaturants by the biggest ethanol producer in Switzerland.Due to aforementioned severe health concerns, many countries no longer use methanol as denaturant, not even in spirits for burning purposes (nonetheless, these are colloquially still called ‘methylated spirit’ even if there is no methanol present). Should you have ‘real’ methylated spirit, don’t use it as hand sanitiser!Deciding between probably dying from COVID-19 or probably dying from methanol intoxication is a very tough. Although, it might not make that much of a difference whether you get a fever, start coughing, and then die from respiratory failure or become blind, get metabolic acidosis, and then die from respiratory failure… sorry for the morbid humour. -
In my country, it is regulated what denaturants to use in accordance with the finished product where denaturated ethanol is used.
I’d suggest checking the regulations in your country.
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