by Mary Kekatos at The Daily Mail
Some hand sanitizers that popped up during the coronavirus pandemic to help meet the demand, contain high levels of a cancer-causing chemical, a new analysis finds.
Valisure, an online pharmacy based in New Haven, Connecticut, said it has detected benzene in several batches across multiple brands of hand sanitizer.
The product is considered as dangerous as asbestos and several companies had levels up to eight times the limit recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
‘The presence of benzene, a known human carcinogen, and multiple other contaminants, in products widely recommended for the prevention of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 and regularly used by adults and children in large volumes makes these findings especially troubling,’ Valisure wrote in a letter to the FDA.
Valisure, an online pharmacy based in New Haven, Connecticut, tested 260 hand sanitizer bottles from 168 brands and found benzene in several bottles including from company artsnatural, which has eight times more than the recommended limit (above)
A total of 44 batches, or 17% – including these Satar Wars hand sanitizers (above) – had detectable levels of benzene, a carcinogen linked to certain blood cancers such as leukemia
Benzene is a liquid chemical that is typically colorless but, at room temperature, can become a light yellow color.
It is naturally found in volcanoes and as a result of forest fires, but is also used to make several products including detergents, dyes, lubricants and rubbers.
Being exposed to high levels of benzene can cause cells to not works correctly such as causing bone marrow to not produce enough red blood cells or damaging the immune system to lose white blood cells, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified benzene as a carcinogen, putting it in the highest risk category, Group 1, with other chemicals such as asbestos.
Benzene has been linked to blood cancers such as leukemia…
Continue Reading