Okay, I am already not a HUGE fan of using hand sanitizer… I’ve always preferred washing my hands with regular soap (not antibacterial soap!) instead. Maybe it’s because I’m skeptical about how effective hand sanitizer is. Maybe it’s because I’m scared of creating “super-bugs.” Maybe it’s because I don’t like the overwhelming smell of alcohol.
Now, I’m incredibly leery to have hand sanitizer in the house around kids!!
I found this article in my inbox this morning:
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—As the swine-flu epidemic plateaus and we move into seasonal-flu time, there are probably more germ-killing hand sanitizers in reach this year than ever before. One unintended consequence: more incidents of kids ingesting the stuff, accidentally or on purpose. Poison-control experts say some adolescents intentionally down gooey, alcohol-based hand-sanitizing gel as a means to get intoxicated quickly. “Remember that a lot of alcohol-based sanitizers have concentrations up to 70 percent—that’s 140 proof,” explains Edward Krenzelok, PharmD, director of the Pittsburgh Poison Control Center & Drug Information Center and a professor of pharmacy and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. “Vodka, whiskey, gin…most are 45 percent alcohol and 80 proof.”
Gross! I can’t believe what teenagers are willing to do for a buzz!! 
What scares me most is the accidental ingestion of hand sanitizer by little kids… I have a little niece and nephew, as well as another little niece on the way! On Snopes, there are some scary accounts of parents who figured out that their young children ingested hand sanitizer– and wound up taking them to the ER!
Since I only have a “fur child” right now, I’m not too worried… but you never know! Yasha does like ingesting strange things… 
