Hand Sanitizers

There are a great number of things that the human eye cannot see unaided, among these are the bacteria present in our hands. With the number of things we use our hands for, there’s little left to wonder why it is continually exposed to a number of harmful microorganisms that can be easily introduced to the body. While most adults have a strong immune system that can effectively ward off bacteria, children are known to be more susceptible.

Recently, hand sanitizers are becoming more and more popular since it is considered a more convenient means of hand sanitizing when there’s no soap and water available. Nowadays, hand sanitizers are introduced to consumers as waterless products, parents naturally view this as a highly viable option to clean the grimy hands of their children. While most brands claim to efficiently kill 99.9% of bacteria, studies have shown to discount such preposterous claims.

So how does hand sanitizers work? The solution strips off the oil on the outer layer of the skin, which prevents bacteria that are present in the body to some to the surface. However, the tricky part here is the fact that these bacteria in our body are not the ones that are considered to be disease-carriers as found out in the study conducted by Purdue University. The researches have shown that contrary to the elaborate marketing ploys of hand sanitizer manufacturers, these products do not playa significant role in reducing the number of bacteria on the hands. So you might ask, how did manufacturers actually claim up with the 99.9% claim as blatantly stamped on every product in the market? Most of these liquid hand sanitizers were tested on inanimate materials, hence they were able to assert the efficacy of their products. However, if it will be tested on hands, these products were not to be expected to yield such promising claims. There is certainly a big difference in the inherent complexities of the human hand in comparison to some controlled variables.

This basically means that even if you have the loads of antibacterial hand sanitizers readily available, it should not be considered as a substitute for hand washing. The Food and Drug Administration strongly recommends the use of hand sanitizers merely as an adjunct rather than a substitute, like what most people were led to think. Proper hand washing is still the most effective and efficient way to kill the bacteria on the hand.


Among the various types of hand sanitizers in the market today, the most effective ones are the alcohol-based type, since it has shown greater results than any other hand hygiene products. According to the Food and Drug Administration, a concentration of at least 60% up to 95% ethanol or isopropanol has shown a far greater germicidal effectiveness. However, there were recent reports of two people who were intoxicated by the intake of hand sanitizer gels. This is why a number of dedicated US doctors have expressed alarm and immediately sent out reports on the possibility of poisoning with the use of the seemingly harmless hand sanitizers. In fact, a group of medical experts have claimed that it would only take a small quantity of isopropanol alcohol to kill a person by depressing the heart as well as the central nervous system. So if you have children afoot, make sure to hem the hand gels out of reach to avoid the possibility of poisoning.

There are a number of health advocates who valiantly warns the public about the ill-effects of chemicals found in many cleaning products in the market, among the list are hand sanitizers. The chemical triclosan found to be present in 70% of all the hand gels and liquid soaps is actually among the harmful chemicals that we constantly introduce to our body. What does this tell consumers like us? Only the very fact that hand sanitizers should never replace hand washing and should not be sued on a daily basis or for prolonged periods of time. Otherwise, our body will unwittingly pay the price of cleanliness dearly in the not so distant future.