The Danger that lurks EVERYWHERE!

Danger in your purse!

You might be applying something daily, or even several times a day and not even know you are hurting your body! The culprit, Hand Sanitizer!  

Hand Sanitizer is everywhere; stores, schools, Dr. Offices, your home and your purse.  "You don't want to get sick from germs, so make sure to use Hand Sanitzier" we are warned.  However, we are NOT warned of what serious effects can come from using Hand Sanitizer (HS).

Hand sanitizers can lead to antimicrobial resistance and affect the both the thyroid and reproductive hormones! The "germ-killing" substance may be causing your hormones to not produce properly.  This is due to an ingredient called Triclosan.  Triclosan may enhance the progression of cancer, this means, while it may not cause cancer itself, it may speed up the progression of cancer cells already in the body!  This PubMed article shows how it can negatively effect a muscles ability to work properly.

Even the main stream media touts the dangers of using HS with triclosan in it and also that is also not any more effective than soap and water. This TIME article talks about not only the dangers of over using the Hand Sanitizer, but also the over-use of antibiotics.  This article does suggest using an alcohol-based version of the liquid instead.  However, this brings in another layer of precaution.  The alcohol-based version is flammable so it needs to be stored safely, there also has been some cause to worry if children get hold of the bottle and drink the pretty, eye-catching fluid.  An article with the CDC stating the dangers of children being exposed to these can be found here, it also states how many children over 12 abuse hand sanitizer for the alcohol content.  

A study found that putting on hand sanitizer makes your skin more porous and makes it easier for toxins to get in.  Interestingly the study was for handling receipts that had BPA in them(over 40% of recepits!!), so when you put on sanitizer and then handle a receipt your skin "soaks in" the BPA from the receipt, then you have it on your skin and go to eat something, you then eat the BPA!  

A direct quote from this article states: "This paper shows how "hand sanitizer opens up your skin to allow BPA to get right in," says Laura Vandenberg, who studies endocrine disruptors at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst."

There is yet another scary ingredient in Hand Sanitizers, it is what makes them smell so appealing and yummy.  "Fragrance".  You see, the companies are not required to list what the fragrance is made up of and there have been many studies showing that fragrance ingredients can disrupt hormones and lead to certain cancers among other things.  And don't even get me started on the coloring added to make them pretty!!  (I will do more blog posts on these things later, but for now there is an article here  about "Fragrance"



So what can we do to clean our hands when out and about, but not use something with nasty chemicals?  There are a few good alternatives:

1) Hand washing with soap and water whenever possible is best.
However, sometimes this is impossible when we are away from home, in this case I would suggest

2) Thieves Hand Sanitizer - This  contains aloe gel, Thieves and Peppermint essential oils.

3) A DIY solution.  There are multiple recipes online, this is the one I am going to try.

As back-to-school is approaching, then the holidays and "flu season" I hope you keep healthy and learn safe options for keeping the sickies away from your family!

Here is one of the articles I got much of my information from.  They back all their finding with PubMed articles.

Here is my Hand Sanitizer You Tube video

Give me a comment on your favorite DIY recipe!

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