Impacts of hand sanitizer on human health and environment: a review

Abstract

Although the use of sanitizer starts around the middle of twentieth century but it becomes popular in early twenty first century (second decade of twenty first century during COVID-19 pandemic). To prevent the spread of COVID-19, World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended the use of sanitizers made up with different combinations of isopropyl alcohols, ethanol and hydrogen peroxides. Literature suggests some toxic effect of use and misuse of these components of sanitizers. Therefore, in the present study an attempt has been made to investigate the use of available hand sanitizers and their adverse effects on human body as well as to collect and correlate the gathered information with their occupation which may further trigger the adverse effect of sanitizer on human being. Out of the total respondents, 98% are using but very few (2%) are not using any type of sanitizer. Age group 2 (16-25 years) is the largest user of hand sanitizer which shows the maximum awareness of this age group related to sanitation and hygiene. Data obtained suggests that males (57.5%) are more aware to sanitization in comparison to female (41.8%). Among the total respondents, house wives were very few (0.8%) which shows lack of awareness among them may be due to their busy schedule and household works. The obtained data revealed that education plays a key role in the spread of sanitation and hygiene awareness. Most of the peoples are using the sanitizers of established brands (Dettol). The data also revealed that 88% of the respondents were observing the various impacts on the body (49% skin dryness, 16% skin allergy 12% skin irritation and itching while 12% respondents are not sure about the impacts). Only 12% peoples responded that they are not observing any impacts of sanitizer. Besides this, different components used in sanitizers pose threat to the different spheres of the environment. Based on the findings of the present study, we can conclude that sanitizer is impacting the human health and environment in various. Therefore there is a need of mass awareness regarding the use and disposal of disinfectants.