Are hand sanitisers the next thing to be banned by the EU? Key ingredient under scrutiny ‘due to cancer risk’

Dailymai

Dozens of hand sanitisers could be pulled from Europe’s shelves because a key ingredient, ethanol, may raise the risk of cancer. 

Alcohol-based cleansers are authorised as safe in the bloc and have been on the World Health Organization‘s essential medicines list since the 1990s.

But earlier this month, EU health officials proposed getting rid of or replacing products containing the alcohol over cancer concerns and the increased risk of pregnancy complications.

If accepted, it could see hand sanitisers, detergents and other popular cleaning products frequently used by hospitals discontinued in EU states. 

The proposed ban, however, would not impact the UK in light of Brexit. 

Experts today warned that the action could have a ‘huge impact’ on hospitals across the continent and alternatives to ethanol that provide similar protection are even more dangerous. 

Alexandra Peters of the University of Geneva and the Clean Hospitals network, told the Financial Times: ‘The impact on hospitals would be huge. 

‘Healthcare-associated infections kill more people globally every year than malaria, tuberculosis and Aids combined.

Hand hygiene, especially with alcohol-based hand rub, saves 16 million infections worldwide per year.

Alternatives to ethanol, such as isopropanol, are even more toxic, she noted, while using soap repeatedly takes longer and damages skin. 

‘Wherever you see production of hand rub in emergency situations like we saw with Covid, every single time it’s going to be ethanol. You can’t just change a brewery into a factory for producing isopropanol,’ she added.  

The European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) committee will now meet at the end of November to decide whether to classify ethanol as harmful.

The ECHA said that if its expert committee ‘concludes that ethanol is carcinogenic’, it would recommend its substitution. 

But ethanol might ‘still be approved for the intended biocidal uses, if these are considered safe in the light of expected exposure levels or no alternatives are found’, they added. 

While no conclusion had yet been made, their final recommendation would be sent to the European Commission who then make the decision. 

Industry groups, however, have already hit back at the potential ban arguing there is little evidence to prove ethanol’s harms.