You could buy a hand sanitizer that won't work for Coronavirus ProPublica

It is tempting, especially now, to buy one of the many hand sanitizers whose label says it kills 99.99% of pathogenic germs. But that doesn't mean the product will protect you from the new coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends rubbing hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol when you are unable to wash your hands. Huge pumps and several packets of bottles fly off store shelves. But alcohol-free products that aren't recommended by the CDC are also caught up in the consumer frenzy.

Some of the hand sanitizers made by the brands Purell and Germ-X ​​use benzalkonium chloride instead of alcohol as the active ingredient. These alcohol-free antiseptic products may not work as well for many types of germs, the CDC says, or can simply reduce the growth of germs rather than killing them. They can be better than nothing, experts say. But people buy them without knowing the difference.

Non-alcoholic hand sanitizers sell although not recommended by the CDC

These alcohol-free products are selling at full speed, with prices on the Internet in full swing. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell, when looking at the lists, that they are different from those recommended by the CDC.

Purell hand sanitizer wipes jumped on Amazon.com from $ 11.88 in January to $ 79.99 Wednesday afternoon before rising to $ 199.99 Wednesday evening, according to price tracker Keepa.com. They are currently sold out.

The front of the package doesn't mention that its alcohol-free; the reverse includes small print that indicates benzalkonium chloride as the active ingredient and the alcohol-free formula of the label. Nowhere on the Amazon product list does it say alcohol-free.

Germ-X ​​alcohol-free foaming hand sanitizer is also sold on Amazon, with prices going from $ 10 in mid-January to $ 49.95 last Friday, according to Keepa.com.

On eBay, 6 fluid ounces of Purells alcohol-free disinfectant, the equivalent of three-quarters of a cup, had a price of $ 55 Thursday night.

Amazon officials said they were list monitoring for price gouging, blocking or removing those they suspect. Ebay announced Friday that it banned the lists of hand sanitizers, masks and disinfectant wipes, and that it will promptly delete lists other than books that mention coronavirus or COVID-19, the disease that he provokes.

If you enter a coronavirus hand sanitizer on Amazon, the results include hand sanitizers made by different companies that do not contain alcohol. Amazon had not answered questions on alcohol-free hand sanitizers at the time of publication.

Customers seem confused. One of them gave benzalkonium chloride Purells alcohol-free hand wipes five stars, writing: Honestly, these wipes saved our lives. Due to the corona virus and my trip to Vietnam, I bought a pack that I used on flights, utensils before eating and seats before sitting down. It gave me (a feeling) of security …

Alcohol-free hand sanitizers are better than nothing. None is as good as washing your hands.

At a time when all hand sanitizers are in short supply, benzalkonium chloride products are better than nothing, said Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine. She said the CDC's recommendation for hand sanitizers is based on the fact that 60% alcohol kills all of the coronaviruses we know of. A sanitizer containing benzalkonium chloride as an active ingredient is not as good, as we don't know as much about it, she said. As a doctor, mother and infection control expert, she has qualified premium alcohol products for hand sanitizers.

The labels for Purell and Germ-X ​​alcohol-free hand sanitizers that contain benzalkonium chloride are vague on the germs they work against.

ProPublica asked Kelly Ward-Smith, spokesperson for Gojo Industries, the company that invented Purell, what product labels mean when they say they kill 99% of most disease-causing germs . She declined to answer, saying in an email that since this article was about the coronavirus, the FDA could interpret any response to violate its rules. The company, which also sells hand sanitizers containing alcohol, does not appear to market any to protect against COVID-19.

ProPublica solicited comments from Vi-Jon, the company that makes Germ-X, but did not receive a response. They also sell alcohol-based products and do not appear to market any of their hand sanitizers against the new coronavirus.

Don't waste your vodka

The shortage of hand sanitizers has led consumers to take extreme measures, by preparing their own elixirs of alcohol and aloe vera gel. Landon said the homemade Pinterest recipes she had seen were not good because people use whiskey or vodka that does not contain enough alcohol to be effective. Global health organizations guidelines for doing hand sanitizers require 96% ethyl alcohol.

Taking its consumer mission to heart, Titos Handmade Vodka tweeted a Warning Thursday its customers that its product did not contain enough alcohol to disinfect effectively: according to the CDC, the hand sanitizer must contain at least 60% alcohol. Titos Handmade Vodka contains 40% alcohol.