Hand Sanitizer in the School Systems

By: Alyssa Camp

“Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water, in fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term.” said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)

Some antiseptic washes aren't sold any more because manufacturers have not been able to prove that some ingredients are safe for long term use, and it might not even be any better than washing with soap and water. The ingredients that are most concerning are triclosan and triclocarban, which are meant to be used with water and rinsed off immediately after. Companies were asked to provide more information on a few of the ingredients in question if they still wanted to produce their anti bacterial hand washes. Either the information was approved, or it wasn’t sufficient enough, so the FDA has put off making a decision on some of them for a year so that more testing can be done.

Should we use hand sanitizer in our schools? Or should we stick to washing our hands with soap and water?

Recent studies are suggesting that hand sanitizer is bad for you. One of the active ingredients in most common hand sanitizers, triclosan, can kill even the good bacteria, allowing other bacteria to the skin to absorb other harmful chemicals. A study done at the University of Missouri used receipt paper to act as skin and found that using hand sanitizer before touching the paper lead it to absorb more BPA (Biphenyl A) which is used to make plastic and disrupts hormones in the body.

In the school systems, washing with soap and water is highly encouraged, but not always convenient in the classroom schedule so students use other ways to clean their hands, like using hand sanitizer. Because students don’t wash their hands with soap and water as often as they should, they tend to get sick more often. Bio Med Central did a study to see if the correlation had anything to do with using hand sanitizer or not. Their evidence wasn’t enough to prove that using hand sanitizer rather than washing with soap and water was causing students to miss school, but a more controlled study would need to be done to be conclusive.

       Another study was done that looked at the absence of students due to sickness. 68 schools were given basic hygiene lessons on how to wash their hands, some of them were only given the lessons while the rest were given alcohol based hand sanitizer. At the end of the year, they found that providing the schools with hand sanitizer did not have a significant impact on the number of students absent due to sickness.

       When washing with soap and water is inconvenient, hand sanitizer is used by millions of Americans. Both generic or name brand hand sanitizers work well and have been showing up in school settings more and more, but no studies have shown that they have any effect on the spreading of sickness. Scott Reynolds noticed that most store bought hand sanitizers don’t have the 60% minimum alcohol concentration recommended by the FDA while he was teaching a biology class the benefits of hand washing. The class used several methods to wash their hands including two types of hand sanitizers, hospital grade and one from the grocery store. He found that the samples from the grocery store sanitizer had more bacteria left over. After repeating this experiment with some colleagues, they thought that hand sanitizer was beneficial, not a replacement of washing with soap and water but as an added way to prevent spreading germs.

        In a school setting everything so fast paced that students don’t always have time to wash their hands with soap and water before snack or when they come inside from recess, so hand sanitizer is the next best choice. Hand sanitizer is a helpful supplement, but should not totally replace washing your hands with soap and water. There is not enough evidence to show that using hand sanitizer is harmful to you. Most store bought hand sanitizers don’t have 60% alcohol base, but if you use a hospital grade sanitizer then it will be almost as beneficial as washing your hands.