Hand Sanitizer Cocktails Send Teens To California Hospitals (VIDEO)

Hand sanitizer is supposed to kill germs, but some southern California teens are using it kill brain cells as well.

In the last few months, six teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This insane use of hand sanitizer has public health officials worrying that it's just the start of dangerous trend.

Hand sanitizers use a formula up to 62 percent ethyl alcohol to kill germs, but some students desperate for kicks are using salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, and making a potent 120-proof liquid equal in strength to a shot of hard liquor.

"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 L.A. Times. "There is no question that it is dangerous."

Health effects from the drink reportedly include diarrhea, memory loss and even blindness and irreversible organ damage.

There have been only a few cases reported in Los Angeles, but Rangan fears the hand sanitizer highballs will become a larger problem since the product is cheap, easily available and the instructions for distilling it are easily available on the Internet, KTLA reported.

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

This is just the latest over-the-counter product that teens have used in an attempt to get a buzz, joining a dubious list that includes cough syrup, vanilla extract and mouthwash.

In fact, at least two homeless people in Albuquerque, N.M., died after drinking a mix of distilled hand sanitizer and mouthwash, according to KASA-TV.

Police officials are worried that local teens will pick up on the hand sanitizer habit, so they have been asking local stores to move the hand sanitizer and mouthwash in hopes of nipping the problem in the bud.

From our partners

• Snake Opening A Door Proves It's Officially Time To Panic (VIDEO) - www.brobible.com
• WATCH: Out Of Shape Rollerblader Gets His Grove On And... FAILS
• Want To Drink Out Of The Toilet? Introducing Toilet Candy - now.msn.com

Comments

[ChristopherOrtega]

07:43 PM on 04/27/2012

Lower the drinking age.

[Todd Kempf]

09:38 AM on 04/26/2012

Let them drink it. Darwin smiles.

[tips8533]

04:39 PM on 04/25/2012

i wonder if shoenice22 would drink a bottle of hand sanitizer...

[mclkarim]

12:57 PM on 04/25/2012

I have already commented on this, but I am going to comment again.

When my kids were very young they would get sick a lot, which is normal for little kids. They were constantly exposed to other kids at school and all of their germs...touching door knobs, desks, etc. There became a point in time where I told the school that I wanted them to carry hand sanitizer with them and use it there. The school did not like it, but I would not take no for an answer, so they finally agreed. I instructed my kids on how many viruses are spread and told them to never touch their eyes, face or ears at any time and to use the hand sanitizer before they ate lunch. When they came home from school they washed their hands with anti-bacterial soap and dried with a clean paper towel.

These two little steps made a very big difference in my kids' health. They are adults now and still carry hand sanitizer in their cars and use it all the time, especially after pumping gas through those filthy gas nozzles.

It is amazing what a little commen sense can accomplish.

[mclkarim]

12:05 PM on 04/25/2012

What the hell is wrong with teenagers who do such things?

[jgamble28]

11:56 AM on 04/25/2012

Teenagers are so dumb. I remember when I was a young teen I wanted to see what it felt like to get drunk. I drank so much that I had alchol poisening. I could have died from it. I learned a good lesson from that.

[djselbac]

08:46 AM on 04/25/2012

If they are our future we are all doomed.

[mclkarim]

12:05 PM on 04/25/2012

No kidding. It worries the hell out of me.

[hobbesjd]

12:39 PM on 04/25/2012

same thing was said about the preceding generations.

[butchcliff]

08:21 AM on 04/25/2012

Science majors or idiots?

[nrw238]

01:33 PM on 04/25/2012

Future Democrats

[Ray Russelburg]

01:34 PM on 04/25/2012

Just goes to show what TOO much schooling does you you. Makes you stupid.

[butchcliff]

05:45 AM on 04/26/2012

Hire a teenager while they still know everything

[ohiotechie]

08:17 AM on 04/25/2012

Seems like a lot of effort to get something that could destroy your kidneys and make you blind. Seems a lot easier and safer to just find someone to buy you a fifth or a case of beer of that's what you want. I did it all the time as a teen; I'll buy you a pint if you buy me a fifth - worked every time.

[SimianNation]

07:49 AM on 04/25/2012

Hairless monkey youth removing themselevs from the gene pool.

[IamYourDrillThrall]

07:09 AM on 04/25/2012

How many more items are going to removed from drugstore shelves because some stupid teens somewhere are getting high from it? Sudafed is behind the counter (used to make meth), as is cough medications containing a suppresant that kids were using to trip on (DMX, it was called)...bath salts, now hand sanitizer? What ever happened to giving some homeless guy a few bucks to buy your beer for you?

[Brautigan]

05:49 AM on 04/25/2012

Yay, Darwin!

[Chandler Windham]

02:43 AM on 04/25/2012

These kids are rocketing stupid because we remove programs to keep their young minds occupied. Humans are dumb!!!

[mclkarim]

12:07 PM on 04/25/2012

What programs are you referring to?

[Derrick22]

10:25 PM on 04/26/2012

Public schooling.

[ChicagoBlackRainbowWomen]

11:00 PM on 04/24/2012

These kids now and days are clueless. Back in the day all I had to do was give a wino a half pint of Wild Irish Rose and he would buy me anything I asked him to.

The youth today are freaking DUMB. What next toothpaste sandwiches???

[Acorn Tree]

11:21 PM on 04/24/2012

some of the youth in any generation are dumb dont generalize it just obscures the real problem.

[WhereIsTheTruth]

10:11 AM on 04/25/2012

Out of curiosity, what do you think the real problem is?

Love your mini, by the way...

[IamYourDrillThrall]

07:10 AM on 04/25/2012

Back in my day, kids would smear toothpaste on cigarettes and smoke 'em to get high. Never tried it myself...

[Olena Gill]

10:58 PM on 04/24/2012

I think someone put this article under the wrong category. This should have been filed under Absolutely Stupid News.