The country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an import alert on Tuesday for
all alcohol-based gel disinfectants from Mexico
, until the agency can review the safety of the products.
The announcement was made after the agency noticed traces of a
harmful alcohol
in most of them.
"The agency has seen a rapid increase in hand sanitizing products from Mexico labeled as containing ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but testing positive for methanol contamination," it said in a statement.
Calls to emergency services increase due to possible disinfectant exposure in the country
April 29, 202000: 29
“
Methanol
, or wood alcohol, is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and
can be fatal when ingested
.
Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient in hand sanitizers or other medications, ”the agency says.
This
is the first time the agency has issued an import alert nationwide
for any type of pharmaceutical product, the FDA itself noted.
The agency had already recommended in June to get rid of nine brands of gel disinfectants manufactured by the company Eskbiochem SA de CV.
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The FDA found that
84%
of the samples tested from April to December 2020 were
not in compliance with its regulations
.
Also, more than half of the samples contained toxic ingredients, including methanol and / or 1-propanol, at dangerous levels.
"The use of hand sanitizers by consumers has increased significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, especially when soap and water are not accessible, and
the availability of poor quality products with dangerous and unacceptable ingredients will not be tolerated
," said Judy McMeekin, Ph.D., FDA Deputy Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs.
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The agency published and periodically updates a list of hand sanitizer products that should not be used, including those that the FDA has determined to contain methanol and / or 1-propanol.
In most cases,
methanol is not listed as an ingredient on the product label.
Exposure to methanol can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent nervous system damage or death, the agency warned.