OK, I really thought that the whole tampons soaked in vodka trick was an inventive (albeit creepy) way for teenagers to get drunk without getting caught with bottles of booze on their persons, but this trend of drinking hand sanitizers, not only turns my stomach, but warning lights are going off in my head.  Things that are made to kill viruses and bacteria on the OUTSIDE of your body, should not be ingested….I’m just saying.

What’s the deal?

Hand sanitizers, such as Purell, have about 62% ethyl alcohol as a base (which is the equivalent of 120 Proof alcohol) so one shot of sanitizer on a lightweight teenager that is pretty novice to the world of alcohol, can do a LOT of damage.  But, let us not forget the other ingredients in hand sanitizers, that help to kill of viruses and bacteria, besides the alcohol, and the effects that they can have on your body.  Most sanitizers also contain: Triclosan (an antibacterial) and Benzalkonium Chloride (an antiseptic like bactine).    Triclosan has no reports of adverse effects in small amounts, whereas, if ingested, even in small amounts, Benzalkonium Chloride can lead to death, by causing damage to the GI tract, Central Nervous System, heart, kidneys, liver, and the entire cardiovascular system.  Doesn’t sound worth it to me!  One hospital in California has reported over 2,600 cases of severe intoxication from ingestion of hand sanitizers since the middle of 2010, and that is a lot of teens requiring treatment for severe intoxication.

How do you drink the sanitizers?

These kids are pretty crafty, I will tell you that!  They figured out how to distill the hand sanitizers, not only to remove all the goo-balls of antibacterial/antiseptic treatment, and to make it taste better.  A quick google search brought me right to an answer forum from one person to another asking how to distill the sanitizers (which apparently does not take a ton of science/chemistry know how like I thought it would): merely mix the ethyl based hand sanitizer with salt, mix, and filter through cheesecloth to get rid of all of the goo.  Then they add flavoring (AKA a mixer) and drink away.  Now despite taking out the large bits of the antibacterial and antiseptic treatment, there are still bit of the compounds within the leftover “alcohol”, so not only are they ingesting 120 proof alcohol, but some of the Benzalkonium Chloride as well: It’s like a double attack on your liver!

What can I do?

Well, I think that if you have teenagers in the house, I would just watch how much hand sanitizer you are going through, if it seems like mass quantities, something might be amiss OR your teen is really into squeaky clean hands. Of course you cannot stop them from going to a supermarket, pharmacy, etc to purchase hand sanitizer, but at least you can be aware of anything seems wrong at home. There are some alcohol free sanitizers available, they are as tough on bacteria as the alcohol based but apparently less effective on killing viruses. If you are really into having alcohol based hand sanitizer at home, the foam forms of hand sanitizers are much more difficult to distill, and the bitter taste should be more off-putting and deter teens from drinking them.  Just be aware of change in behavior of your teen and/or their friends, and talk to them about the dangers of drinking hand sanitizers: organ damage and death are pretty scary.

Coming from a girl who didn’t pay enough attention in chemistry in high school, clearly, I am totally stunned that this is occurring, and I really think this is a horrible trend that we (as HCPs) are seeing in hospitals from teens trying to be sneaky getting drunk/high/etc.  So stay in tune with your teens, talk to them, and if you think there is a problem, bring them to their HCP to get a check up, and that way we can show them the damage they are doing to their bodies and what the long-term effects are.

Yours in Good Health

B