Hand sanitizers were previously reported to explode inside cars due to hot weather. This time, a woman got severely burned while lighting a candle, and the bottle of hand sanitizer got caught in a fire and exploded.
A GoFundMe page is now open for the victim and her family as she will need a new home when she gets discharged from the hospital and reconstructive surgery.
Texas Woman Severely Burned
Katie Wise, a single mother of three from Texas, is now recovering at an intensive care unit after being severely burned due to hand sanitizer.
According to Wise, she had put on some hand sanitizer when she lit a candle in her home. In her surprise, she jumped back and accidentally touched the disinfectant bottle, which then made contact with the fire and exploded.
Wise managed to take off her burning clothes while her two youngest ran outside to ask for help from their neighbors. She was also able to carry her disabled 14-year-old daughter and house dogs out of their house.
She said that the hand sanitizer lit her whole body, and she cannot even explain the pain from the injury. Wise suffered second and third-degree burns to some parts of her body, including her face, hands, legs, and feet.
'It's something that you never want your kids to see,' Wise said.
Her friend, Kathryn Bonesteel, started fundraising for Wise to help her with the expenses as she will need a new home and reconstructive surgery when she gets out of the hospital. Bonesteel noted that her friend bought the off-brand alcohol-based hand sanitizer from a trusted supermarket.
She also said that the COVID-19 pandemic had brought products to supermarket shelves that were not tested and unsafe to use. Wise urged everyone to make sure that hand sanitizers people use are FDA approved and to take her case as an example to avoid getting hurt.
READ: Exploding Hand Sanitizers: Never Leave them Inside Hot Cars, Warns Expert
Exploding Hand Sanitizers
The hand sanitizer business has exploded during the pandemic. However, some of them could explode when subjected to hot temperatures.
According to FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hain, some companies are taking advantage of the pandemic and selling hand sanitizers that are made of dangerous and unacceptable ingredients. In total, the FDA has already banned 160 brands of hand sanitizers in the United States.
But that goes without saying about exploding hand sanitizers. In an incident, last May, a mother from Baxenden, Lancashire, warned the public of the hand sanitizers' hidden harmful damages.
She narrated that she was picking up a prescription from a pharmacy when she left her daughter inside the car with the hand sanitizer. Upon opening it, the hand gel sanitizer exploded to her daughter's left eye.
In separate news, The Texas Department of Public Safety shared a photo showing severe damage on a car's driver's side due to a hand sanitizer that ignited inside the hot vehicle at 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dallas firefighter Sherrie Wilson said that leaving hand sanitizer inside the car poses a great risk as the vapors can leak into a hot car, which creates a combustible environment.
These incidents of exploding hand sanitizers should be kept in mind in buying and handling them. Make sure that it is FDA-approved and not in contact with any fire or stored in hot places as it could explode. Nonetheless, with proper handling, its benefits are still important, especially this time of a pandemic.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: FDA's List of Toxic Hand Sanitizers Grows as Methanol Contamination Continues
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