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April 27th, 2012
06:33 PM ET
Hand sanitizer: The new vodka for teens?There's a new trend among teens looking for a buzz, doctors say, and it surrounds an unlikely household item designed to keep us germ-free: ethanol-based hand sanitizer. Teenagers are using it this stuff to get high, according to health officials. Poison control centers nationwide say reports are on the rise. The big issue here is the alcohol content, says Dr. Robert J. Geller, a medical toxicologist and Emory University pediatrician. He says these sanitizers "are actually products that are 60% ethanol which means they are 120 proof," and "if you drink 2 ounces of it, it's like drinking 3 ounces of 80-proof tequila." In California, where word of the trend first surfaced, there have been reports of 60 teenagers exposed since 2010, says Dr. Cyrus Rangan, toxicologist and assistant medical director of California Poison Control.
In recent months L.A. County doctors noticed an increase in cases, so last week they asked the California Poison Control Center to run numbers to see if data matched their instincts. But nationwide statistics haven't been compiled, so CNN asked the American Association of Poison Control Centers check their database. Turns out the number of cases around the country are going up too. Last year there were 622 calls involving cases where teenagers reported exposure to ethanol-based hand sanitizer, according to the AAPCC. So far this year, they've already received 203 calls. The specifics of each case aren't known, but overall, "77% of teen exposures to hand sanitizers were oral; the rest were mainly the eye and skin," says Loreeta Canton, spokeswoman for the AAPCC. None of the reports involving hand sanitizers resulted in the deaths of young people, although one 2011 report involved a teen "with major effects that were life-threatening," according to the AAPCC. Also in 2011, there were 14 teens with "moderate effects"requiring treatment that were not life-threatening and 122 cases of teens with "minor symptoms" that were "minimally bothersome and generally resolved rapidly," the AAPCC says. So far this year, poison centers have received hand sanitizer reports of one incident that was "life threatening or resulted in disability or disfigurement," one incident that "required treatment, but was not life threatening" and 48 which were "minimally bothersome and were resolved rapidly." For teens there can be serious consequences, says Geller, from sedation, to vomiting, to slowed breathing, "it really depends on how much they take and how often they are doing this." Dr. Jennifer Shu, a CNN consultant and Atlanta pediatrician, says this is not a new concept for teens, it's just a new product for them to try. She says, "when used the wrong way, a lot of these things can have unintended consequences." Ethanol can interfere with normal body functioning and side effects can range from sedation, loss of coordination, and reaction timing, warns Dr.Carl Baum, a pediatric emergency physician and a medical toxicologist. "Too much ethanol can lead someone to have dangerous drops in blood sugar," just like drinking too much alcohol. Teens are being exposed through friends and finding recipes online to help make it more palatable, Rangan says. Some teens even add ingredients to separate the alcohol from the rest of the gel while some dilute it down. Drinking hand sanitizer poses the same risks as drinking alcohol for kids, says Rangan. "Regard it like you would regard any kind of medication in your house and monitor the amount in your house." He suggests parents use foam sanitizers which might be a little less appealing for a teenager to use in a recreational way. "I think it's just because of the easy accessibility," he says, "teens who are showing behaviors of intentionally taking hand sanitizer in an effort to get the alcohol high need to be evaluated for why are they doing that, and is this a symptom of a larger problem of substance abuse." For more information on alcohol abuse and kids visit Elizabeth Cohen's "Empowered Patient" at CNN.com.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
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Thinning of the herd. That's all it is.
Exactly. Let natural selection take its course.
i am an avid supporter of darwinism
i love how idiots throw around words like natural selection and darwinism yet have no idea of the true meanings behind them. open an encyclopedia. these are just kids being kids, not biological traits passed down from evolution. get off your high horse and remember some of the not-so-intelligent things you have done as a teenager
IQ's heritability coefficient is 0.7 I believe, which is pretty impressively high: stupidity, thus, can be considered a genetic trait that can be selected against, though it does seem to persist across generations...
@ 210 – correction: These are NOT just kids being kids.
!
They are AMERICAN kids being AMERICAN kids.
Big difference
"just like drinking too much alcohol"; ethanol IS alcohol, exactly the same alcohol as you get in beer or tequila.
Isn't it wonderful how the Internet Age has provided us all, (in the English-speaking world, anyway,) with so many reporters who can't write and so many editors who can't read?
They are talking about the kind of alcohol you would normally drink smart one. Isn't it amazing how the Internet has provided us all with people who cant read between the lines and leave ignorant comments?
oh, and don't forget the idiots who, as you pointed out, don't think before they type something so stupid as that which you pointed out....
Nick and Mike, I disagree. This article is carefully worded to make us scared of 'ethanol', as if it is something much more dangerous than 'alcohol', when in fact they are the EXACT same thing. Poor reporting....
seem like these kids are getting dumber by the day.
What do you expect? People gains wisdom when responsibility is placed upon those people’s shoulders. Responsibility comes with freedom. Our country is one on the least free in history. A person can die fighting for there country, but cannot drink alcohol (18yrs). Teens can not work rather than going to school, despite the failed educational system. An18 teen year old can’t smoke tobacco and yet his vote counts as much as anyone else’s.
how many bottles of sanitizer did you have before writing that brilliant comment?
@Random: You are the perfect example of our "failed educational system". "A person can die fighting for there country"; don't you know the difference between there and their? And for heaven's sake, what is "18 teen year old"?
Time to start making more Darwin Awards
When i was a kid and we wanted alcohol we would just stand outside of the local store and ask any random adult to buy it for us. In return we would give that person a beer or two for their efforts. The good old days.
Yeah those were the days. When adults could buy under age children alcohol. Now they had to go mess things up and start arresting people for doing that. Damn government. [/sarcasm]
As with anything else, it's not the alcohol that is the problem...it's the idiots who don't use it responsibly that are...just like guns, prescription meds and so on
The alcohol that is used in hand sanitizer, coatings, & paint, is Denatured alcohol or methylated spirits. It is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous. It is a solvent similar to what is used in stripping paint, or adhesions in coatings. It is specifically made to not be consumed.
You're assuming that it's denatured alcohol...You're right that most pure ethanol you can purchase is denatured, but that's as a consumer or lab. Manufacturers have access too non-denatured ethanol if they so desire and are willing to pay for it. I'm curious which they use...I don't see methanol on the ingredient label of any of the sanitizers we use here in the hospital but perhaps the % is low enough they don't have to list it. Usually though the MSDS sheets for these things have to list everything.
Hate to break the news to you Briankt123, but hand sanitizers use ethanol. They do not use denatured alcohol.
Thank you for the info tempo. I was under the assumption that most Manufacturers of non-food items were required to use reagent grade alcohol with usually methanol @ 10% as the denaturer. Although, as you point out, it might not be listed on the MSDS because of the low percentage. Perhaps, as you mentioned, these Manufacturers utilize ethanol (as they desire)similar to food processors, as it comes in contact with skin. Very interesting. BTW PoisonControlRN? You're not "breaking any news to me." It is people like you with snide, sarcastic, “know-it all” replies that make me reluctant to post “opinions.” You should take a lesson from tempo in manners, respect, & courtesy.
If you are not in a "dry" county in Mississippi you can buy "Everclear" at a liquor store. The stuff is 95% pure alcohol from corn.
Just will get worse. More products=More inventive ways to get drunk. Kids will always find ways. Its nature.
hmm did not think of this until i read this article, might try it... you only live once!
No one has ever died from smoking pot. Maybe if it wasn't illegal our kids wouldn't be drinking household items to try and get a buzz.
Smoke anything long it enough you'll die of cancer
Live long enough and you'll die.
@Colton,
You have no idea what you're talking about. Cannabis has been shown to have extreme anti-tumor properties and if anything prevents cancer from establishing itself. Why do people constantly make comments about things they have absolutely no idea of what they're talking about?
Great give it two years and I'll be hiding my weed and my purel when i get pulled over.
If kids are dumb enough to drink this stuff... let them drink their fill. Thinning the herd to make way for smarter kids isn't such a bad idea.
No argument here. American kids have finally shown the rest of the world how 'bright' they are.
Why does the Occupy movement come to mind?
Because you are a petty fool.
Yup, as has been said, you're a fool.
Yet another fine reason to legalize pot... so when bored teens decide to start finding ways to get messed up they will have a far far less harmful option than booze, huffing, prescription pills, or freaking hand sanitizer!
Oh no, heaven forbid anyone would use a plant...one that some people's God put on the planet by the way, to get a buzz....I say, keep using all your man made pharmaceuticals and see where that gets them....stupid is as stupid does...drink up kids, more air for me to breath and less of you all around to do other stupid things in my life time.
You can't even buy keyboard duster anymore without having a clerk retrieve it from a locked cabinet.
I despise today's teenagers. If you're between 13-23 right now I fear it's your generation that is going to obliterate our society once and for all.
I blame people that want to protect all children like some precious, fragile, flower. Not all kids are precious, let them have at the keyboard duster.
But you're the generation that led the way
Kids want to emulate adults. When you make it harder for them to do that, they find a way around it. They always will.
kids want to get f***ed-up, just like adults do. yes.
Should be easy to add a cheap emetic (vomit inducer) to the formula.
hush, that makes too much sense. It will never work
No, then you would have the females using it to lose weight. But, it is a good attempt.
"Drinking hand sanitizer poses the same risks as drinking alcohol for kids"
ummm
I think we found someone that is part of the problem...lol
The bottom line on pot legalization. If you can grow enough on a windowsill to party on as much as anyone needs it would turn the brewing industry from a trillion plus dollar behemoth into a 500 million dollar specialty business almost overnight. Any questions?
Yes I have one. How does it put a trillion dollar behemoth out of business overnight when it takes 5 months to grow?
Look at any country outside of the United States where pot is decriminalized, and tell me that the beer industry there is tanking.
@D,
Stop pretending you know what you're talking about.
let the kids get some booze and smoke weed. we used to use all sorts of stupid stuff to get high, drug education should be how to use responsibly, and with discipline.
Country of 311,000,000 people..... 622 reported cases of "exposure" ( meaning not all were intentional). This isn't exactly a newsworthy story of a statistical epidemic; it is statistically insignificant.
It wasn't a problem, until CNN informed the world. Now every kid will know how to legally buy a substance to get them drunk. Hey Mom can you pick me up the Gallon jug of hand sanitizer from Sams Club.
Great – now hand sanitizer's going to be illegal.
Extreme darwinism, new alarming trend in teens.
This is really just kind of pathetic....
Seriously? Are kids that flippin' stupid these days? When I was a kid the drinking age was 18...maybe we should go back to that. Didn't seem like we had half the weirdness going on back then, but who knows...
I think that we should subject all individuals that want hand sanitizer to body cavity searches if you don't like it don't fly! hold on what are we talking about again?
I keep seeing posts on here about how "kids these days" are dumber and dumber and Darwinism and blah, blah, blah. I can't believe how many people are taking this report at face value. Does anybody else remember ten years ago when the media was reporting on "the new trend of getting high" called jenkem (aka poo gas). It was a total internet hoax and the media bought it and reported it as though it was fact. Again with this hand sanitizer thing, the media hears of six cases of ti and are immediately reporting it as though its a real trend. Hint: it is not a trend, it is still just as easy for kids to get a hold of weed or alcohol now as it was when any of us were young. They don't resort to hand sanitizer except in a handful of cases. CNN and other "news" organizations need to stop drumming up hype for a "trend" that doesn't even exist.
This wasn't a problem til CNN informed the world. Now every kid will be going to Walgreens to buy out their stock of hand sanitizer.
Leave it to the news to teach you how to numb your brain or how to make a bomb.
The old philosopher, Ron White, says " You can't fix stupid".
Just lower the drinking age like the rest of the civilized world and prevent these prohibition like behaviors. We know teens are irresponsible, but telling them they can't drink until 21 makes getting drunk more alluring...risk taking is a huge part of growing up.
She mentioned bath salts, as in the cubes of scented material we place in our bathtubs in order to soothe aches and pains while scenting our bath water. She is mistaken. "Bath salts" is merely the name for a form of mephedrone or methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) whose use is currently approaching epidemic proportions. Shame on CNN for not making the distinction.
if those kids are stupid enough to drink hand sanitizer, then by all means, let them
This is nothing new. Decades ago people would stick a nail in a can of hair spray, "Final Net" was the most common because it cost 50 cents a can, and drink it. It was mostly alcohol. Hair spray however had a much more damaging effect physically because of the ingredients. This was a very common practice on Indian reservations because of the poverty – cheap way to get drunk.
Thats natural selection in the works right there....feed up kiddies!
As of now, hand sanitizer is a legal product. Why cannot one do with it in any manner one chooses? On the other hand I suppose we need guidance, (i.e., control,) from our enlightened government leaders. I especially appreciate the warning on a gallon of paint telling me not to take internally. Of course, anyone inclined to drink paint is going to do so with or without warning. And for my safety I am thankful for being instructed not to stand on the top of my stepladder. And on and on and on.
If only we made it legal and sold it for tax profits. All the troubles in the world would go away.....
Half the problem is that you the media wont stop talking about it .My guess is for every time that you show this story adds about 50 more kids trying it.
I think that half the problem is that you the media wont stop talking about it .My guess would be that for every time this story is shown adds about 50 more kids trying it.
Most types of mouthwash contain enough ethanol to get you drunk (if you can actually drink the whole bottle.) Does this mean we will have to start selling Scope and Purel in the liquor stores?
Hand sanitizers have been nothing but trouble. They are not necessary. Soap and water are just as effective. We will buy anything. Not to mention that we are weakening immune systems by using this stuff all the time. This is a product that is needed about as much as energy drinks, which are just another way to get people to spend money on useless stuff.
There's no evidence that hand sanitizers 'weaken' the immune system any more than washing with soap and water. And for those of us who work in situations in which we are in contact with large numbers of people where soap and water are not readily available (and no, I'm NOT talking about some third-world country, but about a public facility that does not have a sink and running water immediately available), hand sanitizer is helpful.
You're not very bright, trust me on that.
Better yet ditch the overpriced hand sanitizers and just use soap and water. If there's an actual need to "sanitize", there's single-use wipes that cost about a penny apiece.
Whatever happened to just paying your older cousin to buy you beer?
If only there was an all-natural drug that doesn't have any significant side-effects..........................
MARIJUANA
But the drug and alcohol companies don't like that
Drinking hand sanitizer? *Seriously?*
Enough of coddling these morons. Just chuck the corpse in the nearest ditch and write the idiot up for a Darwin Award.
Can we just smack them upside their collective heads? What kids need is fear.
Easy, just switch to making it with isopropyl alcohol, that'll fix em.
I know I wasn't this stupid or desparate when I was a kid, why are these kids??? Is it something in the water???
idiots, go fly away or is it fade away..
Good marketing can sell anything. Did you know that almost everyone died from hand related disease before someone invented hand sanitizer. Why, this product saved modern civilization along with of course corn syrup. Without these two products imagine where we'd be now.
Does the writer of this article know how to use a word processor?
This is not a case of Darwins theory in action, this is not a case of kids getting dumber. This is just a case of young people discovering a new source of alcohol.
Don't be a bunch of bitter old woosies.