Store-bought hand sanitizers promise to kill germs and are convenient methods of keeping our hands clean.  But are liquid hand sanitizers hazardous to our health, and how effective are they?

With the numerous brands of hand sanitizers on the supermarket shelves, and most of them claiming to kill 99.9 percent of all germs without the need if water, why wouldn’t you buy a few bottles to carry around?

Brands of hand sanitizer use mostly ethyl alcohol in their formulas, and sometimes up to 62 percent, which could have dangerous consequences if ingested.

“People are in such a hurry theses days,” Dr. David Friedman a certified Doctor of Naturopathy explains, according to Yahoo News. “There are many germs that are unaffected by the use of hand sanitizers.”

Salmonella, anthrax spores and Hepatitis are just some common germs that are immune to hand sanitizers.

A chemical compound, triclosan, which is considered as a pesticide in some countries may also be found in some formulas of hand sanitizers.

At the end of the day, hand sanitizers were not made to be replacements for warm water and soap, but if you’d like to make your own organic version, check out the recipe below from the Pediatric Integrative Medicine program at University of Alberta.

 

Ingredients:
• 3 oz. filtered water
• 1 tsp. aloe vera gel
• 10 drops cinnamon essential oil
• 10 drops clove essential oil
• 10 drops rosemary essential oil
• 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
• 20 drops lemon oil

Instructions: Mix ingredients in a 4-ounce spray dispenser, and shake gently.

Source: http://www.pedcam.ca/