The ethanol content of some commercially available hand sanitizers was found to be lower than the value indicated on the product.
In addition, there was an advertisement that could be mistaken for a quasi-drug with excellent sterilization effect.
The Korea Consumer Agency announced the results of a survey on the ethanol content and labeling status of 10 hand sanitizer products and 15 hand sanitizer products.
According to this, two of the hand sanitizers had less ethanol content than indicated.
Lizcos”Doctor Urban Hand Cleaner (500ml)’ had an ethanol content of 76.1%, but the actual content was only 11.3%.
Songjuk Cosmetic’s’Hand Cleaner (100ml)’ was marked as 67%, but only 36.5%.
All 10 ethanol-containing hand sanitizers used phrases such as ‘99% disinfecting power’ and’hand sanitizer’, and advertised that consumers could mistake them for quasi-drugs.
Hand sanitizers are’cosmetics for cleaning the human body’ according to the Cosmetics Act, and unlike hand sanitizers classified as quasi-drugs by the Pharmacist Act, there is no ethanol content standard, so it cannot guarantee sterilization effect.
As such, the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and the Cosmetics Act prohibit advertising cosmetics to have medical efficacy or to be mistaken for quasi-drugs.
Consumer Agency advised, “When buying hand sanitizer for the purpose of preventing novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), you must check whether there is a quasi-drug label on the container surface.”
Consumer Agency recommended improvement to businesses that advertise hand sanitizers like hand sanitizers.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is planning to ask the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to strengthen the supervision of labeling and advertising hand sanitizers.
Meanwhile, the ethanol content of the 15 hand sanitizer products surveyed was 59.1~75.4%, which all met the standard manufacturing standards for quasi-drugs (54.7~70%).
All products met the criteria for labeling quasi-drugs, and methanol, which may cause optic nerve disorders and central nervous system damage, was not detected.
/yunhap news
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