Dubai Municipality withdraws these six hand sanitizers from the market

Dubai Municipality withdrew six hand sanitizers that were deemed to be non-compliant with its safety standards, reported official news agency WAM on Wednesday.

The withdrawn products include LULU Hand Sanitizer – 500ml, COSMO Hand Sanitizer – 65ml, ZIVA Hand Sanitizer – 250 ml, FEAH Hand Sanitizer – 50ml, AMEYA Isopropyl Alcohol – 70ml and LULU Hand Sanitizer – 250ml.

A total of 102 samples from among the products circulated in the market were tested within laboratories to check for conformity to the municipality’s standards.

The tests revealed that these six samples failed to comply with the health and safety requirements due to the presence of methanol, a colourless liquid with a pungent odour used as a solvent.

“It is highly toxic and hazardous to human health, affects the nervous system, causes dizziness, headache, irritation of the skin and respiratory system, and causes blindness in severe poisoning cases,” the civic body warned.

“Coordination is underway with the local and federal health and governmental agencies in order to permanently ban the trading of the batches of these products from all markets in the country,” it added.

The move comes at a time when the municipality has undertaken an inspection drive to verify the safety of antimicrobial products including hand sanitizers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which has resulted in a growing demand for personal sanitization products.

The municipality has urged consumers to report to it if they spot these withdrawn products in supermarkets by either calling the municipality’s toll-free number 800900, connecting via the Dubai 24/7 App or even through its website: dm.gov.ae