Hand sanitisers come under scanner

Much in demand sanitisers are coming in from dubious manufacturers from various parts of the country and pharmacists are said to be having a tough time to reject or accept consignments from flyby marketing companies, which are flooding the market that may not conform to the standards.

The sanitisers have to be made in a composition prescribed by the World Health Organisation that involves ethyl alcohol or isopropanol, hydrogen peroxide and glycerin.

Alcohol content

The alcohol content had to be 70% or above that would kill germs. However, many sanitisers had other ingredients too, said A.N. Mohan, president All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA).

There are sanitisers which have propanol and mecetronium ethyl sulphate as raw material. There are also some sanitisers which are labelled to keep out of access to children.

Some had additives which were permitted, like carbomer – an emulsifying agent for getting a gel type sanitiser besides fragrance and colours, said Mr. Mohan. Some of the most common additives had been found to be aloe vera and tulsi. However, problems could arise when these were sold not as drugs but as cosmetics with reduced alcohol content, he said.

The Drugs Control department had been on the alert to check spurious sanitisers and were making inspections, said K.J. John, State Drug Controller in-charge.

The department had collected 225 samples from the market to check the contents. So far results of 125 were received, of which one had been found not conforming to standards, said Mr. John.

45 licences

The Drugs Control department had given about 45 licences to pharmaceuticals and new industries in the State to manufacture sanitisers in the given standards with permitted fragrance and colours. This was also to stop the supply of spurious sanitisers from other States, he added.

Because of the problems in identifying proper sanitisers, AKCDA was planning talks with Kerala State Drug Pharmaceuticals for marketing their sanitisers, said Mr. Mohan.

Mr. John pointed out that a grey area in the drug marketing in COVID-19 times was that sanitisers were not to be sold in supermarkets. However, this challenge was overcome by using the Drugs Control department's authority to permit the sale of sanitisers to those having the restricted licence that allowed these shops to sell pain balms and even paracetamol tablets. This was done to make sanitisers available to people, he said.

However, cosmetic items with reduced alcohol content could not be sold as sanitisers, he said. As part of the drive to check illegal sale, the department had also seized a load of sanitisers from a paint shop in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.