ATTLEBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - Attleboro officials were forced to toss out dozens of bottles of contaminated hand sanitizer that were being used in city buildings after the United States Food and Drug Administration urged the public to stop using a long list of tainted products.
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City workers had been using Assured and Blumen sanitizers, a pair of brands that were found to contain the toxin methanol, according to the FDA. Methanol can be possibly fatal when absorbed through the skin or ingested.
“Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and should not be used due to its toxic effects,” the FDA said in a news release.
The toxic sanitizer was being used by about 100 to 200 employees at City Hall and other buildings in the area but the public only had access to Purell sanitizing stations.
Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux said no city employees reported any illnesses from using the sanitizers but he still expressed serious concern.
“Back in March, I was experiencing some blurry vision and I thought it was because I was looking at my iPad too much,” Heroux told 7NEWS. “Since then, I seemed to have figured that it might have been the hand sanitizer that we were using. I was using it a couple times an hour and the blurriness seemed to go away when I used it less.”
Heroux said the tainted sanitizer was purchased with money provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
He now hopes the city will be refunded.
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