What we wrote about in our 23 June article, “MAKE IT UP, THEY WILL BELIEVE IT” persists unabated.
Back then, we wrote about the hand-sanitizing craze that had gripped the nation and how the FDA warned that nine alcohol-based hand sanitizers manufactured by Eskbiochem SA de CV in Mexico contained a toxic substance that could result in death when absorbed through the skin or if ingested. They said, “Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol should seek immediate treatment, which is critical for potential reversal of toxic effects of methanol poisoning.”
Clearly more deadly to young people who are not dying from coronavirus, the FDA went on to report, “Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system, or death.”
Scared to death that the virus would kill them if they got it on their hands, along with the rush to buy toilet paper, people panicked and started cleaning out large stores such as Walmart of all hand sanitizers.
On 4 November, the CDC updated its website with the report titled, “Hand Washing: Clean Hands Saves Lives.” It stated,
“Cleaning hands at key times with soap and water or hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol is one of the most important steps you can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to those around you.”
The only signal from the CDC of any danger from using hand sanitizer was its 8 August warning not to drink it, as it is poisonous when ingested.
Sanitized to Death
But last Thursday, Bloomberg News reported,
“Some widely available hand sanitizers that American consumers snapped up last year to ward off coronavirus infection contain high levels of a chemical known to cause cancer, a testing firm’s analysis found.”
They noted that after the most commonly produced hand sanitizers were quickly swept off the shelves by consumers frightened of the coronavirus, retail stores re-stocked with alternative brands containing dangerously high amounts of benzene, despite the WHO considering benzene to be as toxic as asbestos.
According to the Bloomberg report, Valisure, a Connecticut pharmacy that tests for product safety,
“Analyzed 260 bottles from 168 brands and found 17% of the samples contained detectable levels of benzene. Twenty-one bottles, or 8%, contained benzene above two parts per million, a temporary limit the Food and Drug Administration set for liquid hand sanitizers to ease the supply squeeze.”
Last June, the FDA said these levels of benzene “can be tolerated for a relatively short period of time.” A spokesperson for the FDA, Jeremy Kahn, told Bloomberg, “The FDA tests hand sanitizers and works with companies, when appropriate, to recall products. The FDA encourages retailers to remove products from store shelves and online marketplaces when quality issues arise.”
Nonetheless, as Bloomberg reports, “Some of these tainted sanitizers were found for sale at Amazon.com Inc. and Target Corp. outlets.”
Valisure’s test results were confirmed by the Chemical and Biophysical Instrumentation Center at Yale University and the private lab Boston Analytical.
TRENDPOST: Once again, we see the devastating effects of fear-mongering politicians and their health officials. Despite evidence that the coronavirus does not, as these “experts” had warned, get transmitted by touching surfaces, scared consumers continue to sweep hand sanitizers off the shelves. As reported in our 26 May Trends Journal article, “SPREADING FEAR, IGNORING FACTS”:
And now, with much of the world wearing rubber gloves to help protect oneself from getting the virus, last Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed COVID-19 does not spread in as frightening a way as presented by political leaders and magnified by the mainstream media.
In an about-face, after warning that people can become infected by touching surfaces and physical items that have the virus on them, the CDC now claims the virus “does not spread easily” by touching surfaces such as door handles and mail order boxes.
