COLUMBUS – More kids are ingesting hand sanitizer here and nationwide, according to the Central Ohio Poison Control Center and an analysis out of the Georgia Poison Center in Atlanta.
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While significant consumption of sanitizer can lead to drunkenness and poisoning, almost all of the cases involve kids who taste just a little and are unharmed, said Henry Spiller, director of the central Ohio center that is affiliated with Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Spiller said incidents of kids’ ingesting sanitizer to experiment with alcohol are rare and that the increase should not prompt parents, schools, hospitals and others to stop making alcohol-based sanitizers readily available.
“Obviously, we don’t want children intoxicated, but we want to balance it,” Spiller said. “Hand sanitizers are very valuable. We’re heading into flu season soon, and we don’t want people not to use these.”
The Georgia analysis found a nearly five-fold increase from 2010 to 2013 in poison-center calls nationwide involving hand-sanitizer ingestion in children younger than 12.
Sanitizer has a lot of alcohol — typically around 60 to 65 percent, putting it at around 130 proof, Spiller said.
But serious poisonings are rare. This year in central Ohio, there had been 14 calls related to children ages 6 to 12 years as of Wednesday, which is a typical volume.