TeachableMedicalNews article 08282020
Teachable moment in classrooms:
- chemical basis of life chapter – adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
- cellular basis of life chapter –sites of detoxification inside the cell
- cellular basis of life chapter – mitochondria as site of ATP production
- digestive system chapter – absorption through stomach mucosa
- metabolism chapter – electron transport chain as most efficient ATP producing process inside mitochondria
- special senses chapter – gross anatomy of optic nerve
The news item: A recent news item described over a hundred hand sanitizer brands are being removed from store shelves because they may be dangerously toxic:
FDA says to avoid these 130 hand sanitizer products that may not work, or are toxic
Regulators say some of the products contain dangerous levels of methanol, which can lead to blindness, hospitalization and even death.
The article mentions that the toxic ingredient is methanol, and that it may cause blindness.
So, Why Do I Care?? Poisoning by methanol, also called wood alcohol, sickens over 20,000 people each year in the US. These people may become blind in 24 hours, and suffer long-lasting damage to their kidneys and brain. The best prevention is not to consume methanol either by drinking or through contact with skin, such as through hand sanitizers. So, taking hand sanitizers off the shelf is part of the prevention.
Plain English, Please!!! First, let’s talk about what methanol is. Methanol is chemically similar to ethanol, the alcohol in adult beverages. Methanol gets into hand sanitizers when the ethanol ingredient is contaminated with methanol. When ethanol is made by distilleries, sometimes inadvertently methanol is distilled into the product, so then it becomes part of the hand sanitizer.