WHEN WHO SAYS ALCOHOL BASED SANITIZER

The outbreak of Covid-19 has turned most Nigerians to pharmacists and chemists - producing "hand sanitizer". This development has posed a serious risk to our society as these producers see it as an opportunity to make money the usual "Nigerian way".

What does WHO mean by alcohol? Alcohol (alkanol) is a big family that comprises of many members. The average Nigerian experimenting with production of hand sanitizer will be exposed to at least four types of alcohols.

Are all these effective for the purpose?

These alcohols are:

1. Ethanol ( going by our local names ogogoro, akaikai, ufofup): This is the most effective of all the alcohols that WHO recommend in antisepsis (sanitizing). Strangely, no one is using this because they do not want their product to look as if it is local. They do not want people to know their formulation. They want their sanitizer to appear foreign hence they avoid using ethanol which is far most effective.

2. Isopropanol (IPA): The next alcohol that is equivalent with ethanol in antisepsis (sanitizing) is IPA. Many producers at this time want a product that is formulated with IPA so as to make it look foreign and superior to those with local raw material. The challenge they however have is cost. A litre of IPA which was 1200naira three weeks ago now cost 1800naira. So this cost factor makes sanitizer makers to desire an alternate raw material, but not locally sourced.

3. Methanol: This is what a lot of sanitizer makers now use to cut cost. A litre of Methanol is only 800naira now. It appears almost same way as IPA but is not in the list of alcohols for antisepsis.

4. Glycerol: This is a tertiary class of alcohol which is in strict sense not a requirement for sanitizers but can be optionally used to serve as moisturizer. This will make the product to have nice feel.

All these Methanol based sanitizers people are parading about with is doing more harm than good. This is because someone who will naturally not shake hands will comfortably do that because he/she has sanitizer to use thereafter.

Please handwash with soap in running tap is still the best bet. Employ social distancing. Use sanitizer from only trusted producers.