Over the past year, we saw well over 100 separate hand sanitizer products recalled due to the presence of methanol, a substance that is toxic to humans when absorbed through the skin. For those unfamiliar, methanol exposure can cause any number of health issues, including blindness, seizures, vomiting, and in some rare cases, even death.
The latest hand sanitizer recall, however, has nothing to do with methanol. In fact, the reason behind Prarie Wolf Spirits’ decision to voluntarily recall 16.9 fluid ounce and 20 fluid ounce containers of its own hand sanitizer is because the bottles look like water bottles and there are well-grounded fears that someone might mistakenly pick one up and start taking a swig.
Now I’ll admit, when I first hear about this I thought it was beyond preposterous. But once I took a look at photos of the offending products, it all started to make sense. As evidenced in the picture above, these hand sanitizers really do look like water bottles, and I can understand why they could pose a risk to children who can’t read, or even adults who might quickly pick up a bottle before reading the label.
The press release announcing the recall reads in part:
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Prairie Wolf Spirits, Inc. is voluntarily recalling all lots of Prairie Wolf Distillery hand sanitizer packaged in 16.9 fluid ounce and 20 fluid ounce containers that resemble water bottles to the consumer level. The recall does not affect any other hand sanitizer products from Prairie Wolf Distillery. The product poses a risk of ingestion.
Ingesting hand sanitizer, which is intended for topical use, could potentially result in alcohol toxicity. Symptoms of alcohol toxicity may range from lack of coordination, slowed or slurred speech, drowsiness to coma, which can be fatal. Furthermore, ingesting alcohol can affect the brain and cause impaired driving or operating heavy machinery. Alcohol can also interact with numerous drugs which may result in serious adverse effects. Ingesting alcohol by people with alcohol addiction may interfere with maintaining abstinence. Additionally, people with alcohol addiction may seek large amounts of ethanol-based hand sanitizers as a substitute. To date, Prairie Wolf Spirits has received no reports of adverse reactions related to this recall.
The product is intended to be applied topically to help reduce bacteria on the skin that could cause diseases when soap and water are not available and is packaged in 16.9 ounce (UPC 6000331899) and 20 ounce plastic bottles (UPC 6000365984) that resemble water bottles. The product can be identified by the bottle’s labels pictured below. The product was distributed to selected customers and consumers nationwide in the United States.
If you have one of the offending products, you can get a full refund by contacting Prarie Wolf Spirits at (405) 445-6448 or emailing them at recall@prairiewolfspirits.com.
