() -The EU is considering classifying ethanol, an ingredient used in many hand sanitisers, as a dangerous substance that increases the risk of cancer, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. An internal recommendation on October 10 by one of the working groups within the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) flagged ethanol as a toxic substance, which increased the risk of cancer and pregnancy complications, the FT said, and needed to be replaced in cleaning and other products.
    • philpo@feddit.orgEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Nah, it does have a major effect - not by using it once or twice,but in some professions you do sanitize your hands multiple times an hour if your unlucky. (And sadly since COVID a lot of cheap hand sanitizer brands started to show up who sometimes use ethanol)

      Then the long term influence it has on your skin and the systemic effects accumulate - ethanol,more than some other alternatives, leads to chronic inflammation of the skin and that over years causes both local as well as systemic damage that can lead to cancer. (When I work on the patient facing side of my job I have the joy of sanitizing my hands around every 45min for 12 hours. Even though we have very high quality desinfectants and skin protection productd it takes a toll on ones skin)

    • Successful_Try543@feddit.orgEnglish
      6·
      4 days ago

      I guess, it’s probably carcinogenic due to inhaling the evaporating Ethanol steam, not due to the external application itself.

  • poVoq@slrpnk.netMEnglish
    19·
    4 days ago

    The article reads like the author doesn’t actually know what “ethanol” is 🙄

  • pasdechance@jlai.luEnglish
    11·
    4 days ago

    So many outlets reporting on this, but there is no story here yet.

    The ECHA site has more info.

    To me it sounds like they are considering reclassification, at which point decisions can be weighed.