Hand Sanitizer Can Poison Your Children

I have used Purell for years. I started using it when I was a cashier at a grocery store in high school. All the money and food products I touched made my hands feel so gross. I couldn't stop and go wash my hands all the time so I used Purell, which the store provided. Now every time I leave a grocery store after touching the carts I use it before I even get in my car. When there isn't a bathroom nearby it's very handy to use.

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Simply teach your children not to eat hand sanitizer and keep it out of reach or use the wipes instead.

Travel tip - I carry Purell individual wipes to use in public restrooms. I place two on the floor when I'm wearing trousers so my trousers don't touch the nasty floor, one to wipe the seat, one for the flush handle. Toss them in the little bin on the wall. They're small, great for handbags or carry-ons, they do the trick.

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I think hand sanitizers are just as harmful as not using them. It may kill the bad germs...but it also kills the good germs, like the previous comments say. If you use it all the time, you are killing all of your immunities that your body naturally gets from some germ exposure. Do I think it is bad to use it when you pump gas or change a poop diaper...NO...but don't use it 27 times a day.

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Also...I have a 2 year old and NEVER use it on him, or even keep the stuff in the house. I hate to think that teachers are giving it out at school. You can control what goes on in your own home...but what if they did try to eat it (like all of those people who used to eat glue as kids...You all know who you are)

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I can say I neither agree or disagree with hand sanitizers. They are great when soap and water are not available, but I do not have may children use them on a regular basis. I am not a germaphobe and believe my daughters need them. I have family and friends who disinfect and santize everything everyday. Their children seem to get sick all the time (colds, throwing up, and more)! I believe we need to be exposed to germs/bacteria to keep out immune systems strong and in good working order!

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I volunteer at an animal shelter, and I cannot *imagine* not having sanitizer around! Kennel cough and upper respitory disesase are impossible to destroy, and easy to spread around. If people just payed attention to their kids, they'd know not to let them eat it! I think instead of banning it , we should ban stupid people from breeding!

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I think that as long as children are old enough and is supervised to use it such as elementary school, hand sanitizer is a good way to cut germs in half. My daughter who is first grade says her teacher squirts a small amount into the students hands right before lunch and after recess. She then makes sure that everyone has used it properly before leaving the classroom. I feel that is a good thing.

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I am all in favor of not banning hand sanitizers - I love having it in my babies diaper bag for those changes where water is not near by and when we are camping with the kids who will touch anything that moves or doesnt move for that matter - lol

I noticed some of the prior posts leave it by the sinks - Why? - Isn't this the place where the antibacterial soap is supposed be, to teach our kids to wash with soap and water and save the sanitizer for when water is not available? Wasn't that the sanitizers intended use to begin with?

Not trying to cause an upset - this is just my opinion.

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And another thing...for all these people commenting on watching your children better, I'd be interested in knowing how many of them have toddlers, because my eyes NEVER leave my son for a second (I would even say I am a bit over protective at times) but he still manages to find every needle in the haystack he can. I can vaccume my floors 4 times a week (because I do) and he will still manage to find SOMETHING he can get into. And I have spent hundreds of dollars completely baby proofing my home. Sometimes kids just do things that you can't always control or stop in enough time. So what is worse...them getting into something that could potentially kill them or having to wash their hands a little more often. Kids also don't have the same level of common sense as adults do. Just because a grumpy old woman knows that hand sanitizer has alocohol in it...doesn't mean a 3 year old does. Maybe you are the idiot for even thinking that.

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PLEASE use toilet tissue if you do nto want to touch the commode handle. However, you should head directly to the sink and WASH your hands with soap and water.

The problem here is that people use sanitizer instead of soap and water. That awas never its intended purpose.

KAY - if your daughter teaches in public school and there is no where for kids to wash their hands you need to complain to the state health department. I am sure there are restrooms, and there are always sinks there.

Sanitizers do NOT kill all the germs soap does.

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I operate a day care. I really like the idea of having hand sanitizer available for all of the children and myself. It surely doesn't take the place of a good hand washing with soap and water but in certain situations I really believe it prevents germ spreading so prevelant in day care settings. Unfortunately, their will always be nail biters and nose pickers at your childrens' day cares. I am forever asking the nose pickers, to come to my desk and I give them a quick pump of hand sanitizer to clean up their germ infested hands. I'd have them in the bathroom washing all day if I didn't have the hand sanitizer. Some children pick ( and eat) all day long! The hand sanitizer is always out of their reach and I let them dry with a paper towel after a few seconds. Everything needs to be supervised. Working with young children is a huge responsibility and not one to be taken lightly. Their are no substitues for your eyes being on them at all time. : )

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I don't use these hand sanitizers. Most importantly, they kill BACTERIA ONLY but most illnesses are caused by a VIRUS. So, they don't do what we think they'll do, and as the nurse said, they are very drying and can lead to skin infections, etc. I really believe we & our kids need to build up immunities - maybe this is one reason why there is such an increase in peanut allergies & asthma among kids??

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As long as we continue to put these poisons on our skin, we are going to become sicker and sicker. Why do you put this product out of reach of children? Because it is a poison, and you put it on your child's skin? If you were knowledgable about this stuff, I would consider that child abuse. The skin is the biggest organ we have, and definitely what you put on it, goes in it. (Ex: nicotine patches, HRT patches) Keep in mind if you wouldn't eat it, don't put it on your skin. In all reality, you are eating through your skin. Everyone is so obsessed with all these germs. We need these germs to build up our immune system. That's one of the reasons people are getting ill, and antibiotics don't work when you need them. And trust me, we don't need those most of the time. Go to your health food store and buy some REAL soap without the chemicals. One of the side effects of this would be nicer skin, less allergies, and no chemicals down the drain going into our environment.

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QUOTE: Our overuse of antibiotics has created nearly untreatable versions of all kinds of illnesses, from strep throat to food poisoning. Please avoid antibacterial soaps and sprays. Trust your immune system for everyday stuff. Then if you do get sick, and your doctor pulls out the big guns, the big guns may actually work.


Penny, where I don't disagree with your statements, I believe we are in more danger of overuse of antibiotics from other sources rather than a handi-wipe or soaps.

One source being our poultry, cattle, and other food resources. Our animal based food products are injected with hormones and antibiotics, which is ingested by us on a daily basis over periods of years. That would concern me more than the surface use of a wipe.

Infact I remember a story done on the news where a study was conducted, linking the early onset of puberty to the use of hormones in our food supply. But I digress....

Another source would be the previous over prescribing of antibiotics by physicians. I have a 15 year old daughter and a 5 year old. There is a distinct difference in the way prescriptions have been written in the last 10 years.

So yes, there is cause for concern, over the introduction antibiotic material into the general public, leading to drug resistant strains of infection. I however believe, that the cause for concern comes more from Ranchers who inject it into the food on our tables, than the handi-wipe we use before we put it in our mouths.

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I think there is a time and place for hand sanitizers. I am a mother of three and we rarely use the stuff. We are also never sick, so I know the stuff doesn't keep you from getting sick, if you have a normal immune system. We only use it when we are going somewhere I know we will not have access to water. I went to look for our bottle 2 days ago when we were going to the park and I could not find it. My 3 year found it tonight and guess what....yes he ate some. His breath smells like the alcohol. Is it my fault..of course, but do we really ever think of those things until it happens to us? I called poison control, and I am having to watch him. He is extremely happy and excited, but not lethargic and sick acting. It is also not the scented kind, and the taste didn't seem to bother him.

I think we just need to keep in mind that no person or product is perfect. I share my experience just to let everyone know that a child will eat this stuff and to all the people who post here with no children, a child is never watched 24 hours a day. Anything can happen just like that, and we are not bad parents when it does.

Also, for all of the teachers out there, although I homeschool and can't speak for students, parents, or teacher's, I would think with anything else to be wise and get a parent's consent before putting sanitizers on there children. You would have to do that with any medication you were giving their children.

Well enough for me, I have a child to watch to make sure he not too intoxicated from hand san....

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Hand sanitizers compromise my ability to breathe. I know others who have allergies or asthma attacks set off by them. There's some inactive ingredient in them that closes my airways. It's horrible because the sanitizers are in use in so many places. When my mother was in the hospital, I couldn't escape it -- it was in the hallways and every patient room and even by the elevators. Pure misery. You can get the same germ-killing effect by vigorously rubbing your hands together. The friction does it, and I've read reports that it's the friction that makes sanitizers effective. I'd love to see this stuff taken off the market. Use soap and hot water. If not available, use friction. And if it makes you feel better, use Wet Ones. But keep the air unpolluted. Don't use this stuff.

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I dont care for Hand Sanatizer. I have complained at my
Daughter's school for not having toliet paper in the bathroom's and no soap on the same day.They dont listen
to me . I have complained for three week's when my daughter started school about that. I found out today when i took my daughter to school and seen that her desk was dirty I went to there bathroom in the class room and wet a paper towl and there was no soap.Her teacher said they havent put soap in since i complained last time.So i went to the Princable And asked her question's like , Why isnt there Antibacterial soap in all the Bathrooms?Because we use Hand sanatzer.I sayed i heared about kid's geting Alcahol posion from licking it and that some kid's where inhaleing it and that hand sanatizer dose not kill all germ's that are spread around. She said not true hand sanatizer is better than Antibacterial soap , Antibacterial soap dose not get rid of germs.In my daughter's class when any kid goes to the bathroom the rinse there hand's in cold water then dry there hand's and they use hand sanatizer when they get out.I asked her princeable why coustodians didnt clean the childrens desk's after school she said it's not there job . That's how germs get spread. My daughter has had two kid's that sit next to hear that got sick and my daughter started to get sick ,I took her to the Hospital i dont have insurance ,I paid cash for her Antibiotic.I cant aford to take her to the hospital all the time and pay for med's. Thank you all for Listening to me, I needed to get this off my chest . I was taught after useing the bathroom you wash your hands in soapywarm water real good. I had a little boy born early and was put in N,I.C.U We had to scrub our hand's and nail's and arms with warm soapy water for five min's.That's what i teach my children.

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