Govt bans 5 more brands of sanitizers with harmful chemicals

KATHMANDU: Department of Drug Administration(DDA) has banned the sanitizer of five more companies after finding harmful chemicals used in them.

According to Bharat Bhattarai, Director General of DDA, the sanitizer of five different companies has been banned after finding methanol in them.

“The DDA has banned the five brands of hand sanitizers containing poisonous methanol in line with the ‘standards of alcohol-based instant hand sanitizer 2020’ set by the government ” DG Bhattarai said.

The DDA had collected the sanitizers of different brands from the market and taken them for quality test recently.According to him, the samples of 50 ml and 500 ml sanitizer produced by Sita Herbal Sunsari contained 80% and 88% methanol, respectively.

Similarly, the sanitizers produced by Makalu Jadibuti Sunsar, Sunima Ayurved Company Morang, MK Herbal Lalitpur and Galaxy Dental and Surgical Company Morang also had excessive quantity of methanol in them.

The DDA has appealed to the people not to use the sanitizers of the  banned companies and has directed the companies to withdraw their products from the market instantly.

Earlier, the DDA had banned the use of sanitizers manufactured by some Chinese, Indian and Nepali companies.