The EU is considering banning the use of ethanol in hand sanitizers due to potential carcinogenic risks.

BrusselsThe European Union is investigating whether the use of ethanol is a substance that increases the risk of cancer and, therefore, whether it will prohibit its use in hand disinfectants and detergents used mainly in health centers, according to the Financial Times and has been confirmed by the ARA. The use of this substance has been authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) since the 1990s, but one of the working groups of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) fears that this substance is toxic, increases the risk of cancer and causes complications.

In this sense, according to information from the British newspaper, the European agency indicates that, if confirmed, it will recommend that hand sanitizers containing ethanol - especially used during the covid pandemic - be replaced by alternative products. However, experts explain in the Financial Times It will need to be carefully evaluated whether it could continue to be used in some situations, as in some cases it can be beneficial if exposure is not very high.

Community sources explain to this newspaper that the working group began to have doubts about the use of ethanol in routine monitoring and that they communicated this internally on October 10. The meeting of the European agency's committee of experts will take place between November 24 and 27 and will decide whether or not to classify ethanol as a substance harmful to health. ECHA will then send its recommendation to the European Commission, which is the EU's executive branch and will have the final say. For the moment, Brussels is avoiding comment or revealing what decision it will take while awaiting the experts' evaluation. "The evaluation is ongoing," the same sources confirm to ARA.

Alarm in the pharmaceutical industry

The European Chemicals Agency launched a public consultation earlier this year proposing a ban on ethanol use, sparking a strong reaction from nearly 300 people involved in the production, sale, and consumption of products containing the substance. Most of the responses to the EU agency's proposal opposed the ban currently being considered by the expert group.

In fact, according to the Financial Times, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) already asked EU member state authorities last May to "establish alcohol-based hand sanitizer as the primary method of hand hygiene." In any case, the European agency's own experts consulted by the British newspaper suggest that companies could request exemptions or waivers of the ban due to a potential lack of alternative products, at least temporarily.