In our germ-phobic culture, hand sanitizers are everywhere.
Dispensers containing the gooey gels can be found in many public places.
And lots of people carry convenient little bottles in their pockets or purses.
Most of these products contain alcohol to kill the germs.
But that does not mean they are drinkable.
Even so, at least two people risked their lives by trying to get high on the fluids, according two separate case studies reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
One case involved a Maryland prison inmate who became "loony," "combative" and "intoxicated," reported Suzanne Doyon at the Maryland Poison Center.
The other case involved an alcoholic patient who consumed the hand sanitizer from a washroom in a Cincinnati hospital.
"When asked why he ingested the hand cleaner, he pointed to the label that read 'active ingredient 63 per cent v/v isopropyl alcohol,' " reported Ashkan Emadi at the University of Cincinnati Hospital. (Isopropyl alcohol is actually highly poisonous rubbing alcohol.)
"No matter what type of alcohol is in them, those hand sanitizers are absolutely unsafe for drinking," said Dr. Emadi, noting that other chemicals are added to the products.
"People can easily die from consuming that stuff."
Dr. Emadi believes substance abuse temptation might be avoided if the product labels are changed.
For instance, the name "isopropyl alcohol" should be replaced with its scientifically equivalent name, isopropanol.
And ethyl alcohol, another common germ killer, should be listed as ethanol.
Boys with breasts
Lavender and tea-tree oil, found in an increasing number of consumer products, can upset the normal hormonal balance of young boys and cause them to develop enlarged breasts, medical experts warn.
In this week's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, U.S. doctors report on three boys -- four, seven and 10 years old -- who developed enlarged breasts. All of them had either used lavender-scented soap and skin lotions or shampoos or styling products that contained tea-tree oil and lavender oil.
Clifford Bloch, a Colorado physician, noticed the condition -- called prepubertal gynecomastia -- in one of his young patients. He then spotted the same problem in two more boys and traced it to the use of lavender and tea-tree oil. Dr. Bloch notified the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Sciences, which carried out lab tests. Those tests revealed that both oils mimic the actions of the female hormone estrogen, while blocking the male hormone androgen.
One boy's mother used to rub a lavender lotion into his chest and body every night. In alternative medical circles, lavender is considered to have healing properties.
After stopping use of the products for several months, the boys' breasts returned to normal size.
The researchers aren't sure how common the problem is among young boys, or how these products might affect others -- such as young girls, women and men.
They urge that the products be used with caution. On product labels, these ingredients are sometimes identified by their scientific names: Lavandula angustifolia (lavender oil) and Melaleuca alternifolia (tea-tree oil).
