Misleading claims made for hand sanitisers
Sellers of hand sanitisers sold on online make misleading claims about alcohol content and risk leaving consumers unprotected against coronavirus, a consumer affairs watchdog has claimed.
Which? found that the worst offending hand sanitiser had an alcohol content of just 10 p er cent, a fraction of the 75 per cent claimed–leaving people using it particularly exposed to bacteria and viruses.
For hand sanitiser to be effective at killing the Covid-19 virus, it should have 60 to 90 per cent alcohol content. In Which?’s latest research, scientists put a range of 18 products available at high street retailers, supermarket sand online marketplaces to the test.
Three hand sanitisers bought from online marketplaces ebay and Etsy did not contain the percentage of alcohol that was claimed on either the product listing page or the packaging, and fell well short of the recommended levels for killing off viruses.
Klenzy Hand Sanitizing Gel, which was available for sale on ebay, claimed to have 75 per cent alcohol content, but Which? tests revealed it contained just 10 per cent.
The Vaida makeup Hand Sanitiser Gel on Etsy, and Hans an Anti bacterial Hand Sanitiser one bay, were also misleading. Both contained around half of the 70 per cent alcohol levels that were claimed. All of the hand sanitisers Which? tested from high street retailers and supermarkets, including Boots, Super drug, Tesco, Waitrose and Wilko, had appropriate levels of alcohol content to kill viruses and bacteria– matching their stated claims.