rockin'robin

Six teenagers have ended up in San Fernando Valley emergency rooms recently with symptoms of alcohol poisoning. But the illicit alcohol didn't come from their parents' liquor cabinets or from illegally purchased beers. These teens got drunk -- and dangerously ill -- drinking hand sanitizer.
Related: 6 Risky Games Your Kids May Be Playing

They're not drinking the gel straight from the dispenser. Some of the teens reportedly used salt to isolate the ethyl alcohol in the disinfectant, turning the gel into a shot of something like liquor; others go online to find distillation instructions. Since most hand sanitizers are 62 percent to 65 percent ethyl alcohol, the drink distilled from it can be as high as 120 proof. (In contrast, a standard shot of vodka is about 40 percent alcohol, or 80 proof.)

"All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager," Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department and a medical toxicology consultant for Children's Hospital Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times. "There is no question that it is dangerous."

In the past, people in search of a quick high have turned to cough medicine (in large amounts, the cough suppressant dextramethorphan can cause hallucinations and "out-of-body" sensations), alcohol-based mouthwash, and even common kitchen ingredients like vanilla or lemon extract.

The hand-sanitizer trend is alarming, but it's not necessarily new. In 2007, The New England Journal of Medicine published an article about a 49-year-old prison inmate who went form "usually calm" to "described as being 'red-eyed,' 'loony,' 'combative,' and 'intoxicated, lecturing everyone about life" after drinking from a gallon container of a popular hand sanitizer over the course of several hours. According to a 2012 report in "Critical Care Medicine," from 2005 to 2009 the number of new cases of hand sanitizer ingestion increased by an average of 1,894 per year. And the American Association of Poison Control Centers says that in 2006, poison centers reported 11,914 "exposures" to ethanol-containing hand sanitizers, 2,307 to people older than 6.

The six California teens arrived in the emergency rooms with slurred speech and burning sensations in their stomachs. Some of them were so drunk that they needed to be monitored, CBS News reported.

"It is kind of scary that they go to that extent to get a shot of essentially hard liquor," Rangan pointed out.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told CBS News that he's seen something similar, when a few teenagers ingested hand sanitizer as a "dare."

"They denied drinking any 'alcohol', had no smell of alcohol on their breath, but when their blood alcohol was quite elevated, they later admitted to drinking the hand sanitizer," Glatter said.

Concerned parents should consider monitoring their kids' use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, buying foam-based ones that are more difficult to distill or drink as-is, or using non-alcohol versions instead.

Teens Turn to Hand Sanitizer to Get Drunk | Parenting - Yahoo! Shine

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stueyyy

And how are you Rockin? been a couple years since last spoke :-)

rockin'robin

Still kickin', Stueyyy!...How's tricks with ya also?

KarissaMann05

Yeah, I'd heard about it. Do you know why?

Because of this: EATS BOTTLE OF HAND SANITIZER IN LESS THAN 10 SECONDS - YouTube

Good grief...

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Foxrac

Oh wow, that's stupid.

I think that age limit to purchase any products that contain alcohol (like mouthwash, hand sanitizer, colds syrup) should increase to 18-21 years old or just 21 years old like alcoholic beverages.

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stueyyy

Me so so you know how it was C.Implant not working etc etc, Well Im still kickin On Anti depressants, I find it wee bit difficult getting out and bout, but all takes time. Im fightin so Im Ok..Nice to see you fine :-) Peace be with you.

C.C.Sinned

idiots!

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stueyyy

? has me baffled

C.C.Sinned

was talking about the idiot teens.

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CSign

That's really sad.

They are recommending parents buy the foam sanitizer which is more difficult to separate the alcohol.

Reba

That's really scary.

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KristinaB

What's really bad about all this is, most schools require the hand sanitizer for each student in their school supplies. My daughter keeps some with her, but on the whole, I don't like it at all.

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Foxrac

Wow, in 1990's, there are no hand sanitizers and our teacher order all of us to go to bathroom to wash the hand before go to cafeteria for lunch.

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KarissaMann05

Same here.

But, now, it seems only colleges don't require you to wash before lunch, since most students are adults. In my college school, I see some hand sanitizers on walls.

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"Pragmatic language is a vital social skill that enables the school-aged child to navigate their way through demanding social situations." -- R. Owens

Foxrac

Yup, it is your responsible to maintain the health and I always wash my hand before touch or eat any meals, including snacks.

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Foxrac

Interesting video

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Oceanbreeze

I'm not condoning this, but, it's quite common. Kids do this kind of stuff to get a buzz of it, and, alcoholics will also do things like this when they don't have access to alcoholic beverages.

It's beyond stupid.

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PowerON

As parents, I would have my kids use wet wipe instead hand sanitizer. It clean more as it remove out of hand than leave it on there.

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PowerON

teens must got the same old concept as in past that there people in ship at ocean, doesn't have water anymore and they found alcohol from the aid kit box. They use it as liquid to drink. Sad, it kill them so much.

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VamPyroX

*groans*

Here we go again... teens looking for alternatives to getting high or drunk!

I remember a time when I had to present my drivers license to verify that I was over 18 before buying permanent marker because local school students were getting high on sniffing permanent markers.

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riobravo

Wow, that's all I can say.

Wow.