Hand Sanitizers Won’t Save You

Good in a pinch, they don’t beat soap and water and likely may not live up to marketing claims

Robert Roy Britt
Elemental
Published in
7 min readFeb 18, 2020

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A photo of a person squirting hand sanitizer out of a bottle onto their hands.
Photo: Jananya Sriphairot/EyeEm/Getty Images

JJohn Newsam rarely uses hand sanitizers. “Perhaps once every month or two,” he says. “And pretty much only when using a portaloo, when soap and water are not available.” Newsam is CEO of Tioga Research, which studies new formulas for everything from skin care products to topical drugs. With a PhD in chemistry from Oxford University, he knows that a good scrubbing with soap and water is the preferred method for ridding his hands of a wide range of infectious germs.

In a pinch, hand sanitizers are deemed useful by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the common marketing claims of “99.99% effectiveness” are based on laboratory tests involving certain germs, not entirely real-world efforts by sometimes imperfect and rushed humans slathering on some goop in a haphazard battle against the gamut of potentially debilitating and even deadly microbes out there.

“If soap and water are not available, using a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol can help you avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others,” according to the CDC. This can be useful in subways or other public places where regular hand-washing isn’t possible. The agency says hand sanitizers “work well”…

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Elemental
Elemental

Published in Elemental

Elemental is a former publication from Medium for science-backed health and wellness coverage. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Robert Roy Britt
Robert Roy Britt

Written by Robert Roy Britt

Editor of Wise & Well on Medium + the Writer's Guide at writersguide.substack.com. Author of Make Sleep Your Superpower: amazon.com/dp/B0BJBYFQCB

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