KATHMANDU : The Department of Drug Administration (DDA) has taken actions against five hand sanitizer manufacturers after they were found using a hazardous chemical in their products. According to the DDA, it has initiated action against those manufactures for using toxic methanol in their hand sanitizers and flouting standards related to instant hand sanitizer set by the medicine regulatory authority.
Nepal Kayakalpa Udhyog (Bhaktapur), Hygiene Soap and Chemical Pvt Ltd, Adhar Chemicals and Food Industry Pvt Ltd (Kathmandu) and Search Chem Cum Herbal Products are the manufacturers that have been found to be using the harmful methanol in their products.
The samples of these manufacturers that the DDA collected from the market were tested at the National Medicine Laboratory and were found to have contained toxic methanol. The use of methanol, a chemical considered harmful to human health and skin, has been prohibited in alcohol based hand sanitizers.
Issuing a public notice, the DDA has urged the public to not use hand sanitizers of these manufacturers, as well as all stakeholders to immediately stop manufacturing, supplying and selling them.
There has been a growth in the demands of hand sanitizers used to remove common pathogens in the market in recent months following the outbreak of Covid-19. The DDA has intensified monitoring of the manufacturing and distribution of such gels amidst complaints surrounding the supply of substandard and harmful sanitizers in the market.
