There have been reports of various contaminants in hand sanitizers. The contaminants include (but may not be limited to):
- Methanol: The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recalled more than 100 hand sanitizers due to potential contamination with methanol (instead of the typical anti-germ ingredient ethanol/ethyl alcohol). Methanol can be toxic if ingested.
- Benzene: Some hand sanitizers were recently tested by Valisure, and they found that some of the hand sanitizers contained the chemical benzene at levels above what is permitted by the FDA. These results are preliminary and require more expanded testing and review by FDA to better understand the extent and severity of the problem. It is not known if the results are representative of all lots of the sanitizers on the list.