Canada warns over hazardous illegal hand sanitisers

Canada’s health regulator has issued an alert over illegal hand sanitisers, and advised the public to stop using them immediately as they are potentially dangerous.

Health Canada says the sanitisers and hard surface disinfectants – sold by by Protegel Quebec Inc. and Hangel Canada Inc – are not authorised to be on the market and may contain unknown, harmful ingredients. Some also did not contain enough ethanol to be an effective sanitiser.

The latest alert comes after Health Canada issued a recall for 15 other hand sanitiser brands from 11 companies which may also be hazardous because they contain unauthorised denaturants such as ethyl acetate, methanol, and 1-propanol.