PURELL® Hand Sanitizer has been safely and effectively used by consumers and in schools, healthcare facilities, restaurants, and other business environments for more than three decades. Incidents of accidental or intentional ingestion are uncommon when compared to the millions of uses each day.
PURELL® Advanced Hand Sanitizer is an alcohol-based hand sanitizer used to safely and effectively kill germs on the hands that may cause illness. To discourage misuse by ingestion, PURELL® alcohol-based hand sanitizers contain denaturants, unpleasant-tasting ingredients that make them undesirable to drink. Additionally, PURELL® Hand Sanitizers do not use food-like scents or bright colors.
Consistent with best practices for all products used around children, always supervise PURELL® Hand Sanitizer use by children under six years of age or those whose judgment may be impaired. All hand sanitizers are for external use only and should be used as directed on the product label.
Likewise, PURELL® Surface Disinfectant Spray is used to effectively kill germs on hard and soft surfaces and should be used only as directed on the product label.
The profile of calls to Poison Centers on alcohol-based hand sanitizer is comparable to other common household products, such as mouthwash, hand soap, and perfumes.* The vast majority of calls for exposures to alcohol-based hand sanitizers are related to unsupervised young children and do not result in significant or lasting negative health effects.* As with all household products, hand sanitizer should be stored safely and use by children younger than six should be supervised by an adult.
*Citation: Maier, M.A., et al. Improving Safety Assessment Weight-of-Evidence with Poison Center Data. Poster at the Society of Toxicology - Annual Meeting 2019, Baltimore, MD.