(PCM) An alarming new trend is picking up among school children where they are becoming dangerously drunk by consuming a mere 3 or 4 squirts of flavored hand sanitizer. The U.S. poison control center has seen a steady increase in the amount of calls they have been receiving about children under the age of 12 who have consumed hand sanitizer and are dangerously intoxicated.
In a recent case, a six year old from Lawrenceville, GA ingested several squirts of strawberry-flavored hand sanitizer and was later rushed to the hospital with a blood alcohol level of .179! That is twice the legal limit for an adult to be considered drunk.
The amount of alcohol present in majority of hand sanitizers is 45% to 95%, so even ingesting small amounts could lead to alcohol poisoning in certain scenarios. On average wine and beer only contain about 12% to 5% alcohol by volume.
There are many reasons why the children are beginning to consume hand santizer that range from actually wanting to get drunk, it being a dare from friends or just because the hand sanitzer looks and smells yummy. Whatever the reason, this is a growing problem and in 2014 the U.S. poison control saw over 16,000 cases of hand sanitizer ingestion in 2014. Scary! Parents, remember to talk to your children about the proper use of hand sanitizer!
