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# FDA Acts to Increase Sanitizer Supply, Control Carcinogens
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-acts-to-increase-sanitizer-supply-control-carcinogens/
- Published: 2020-06-02T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:16:49.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5146906

FDA commissioner **Stephen Hahn** says the agency has updated guidances to provide additional clarification on the manufacturing and compounding of certain alcohol-based hand sanitizer products to help ensure that harmful levels of impurities are not present in ethanol used in the hand sanitizer products. “FDA appreciates industry’s willingness to help meet the increasing demand for alcohol-based hand sanitizers during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Hahn [says](https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/amneal-pharmaceuticals-llc-issues-voluntary-nationwide-recall-metformin-hydrochloride-extended?utm%5Fcampaign=Metformin%20%20N-Nitrosodimethylamine%20%28NDMA%29%20by%20Amneal&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fsource=Eloqua). “Early on during the public health emergency, as demand for alcohol-based hand sanitizer had dramatically increased, we issued temporary policies to provide flexibility to help meet this demand and to help get supply quickly to where it was needed, whether it was for healthcare professionals or for individuals and their families.”

The statement says FDA is working with industry to ensure that harmful levels of impurities are not present if ethanol is used in the sanitizers. Its guidance update specifies interim levels of certain impurities that FDA has determined can be tolerated for a relatively short period of time, “given the emphasis on hand hygiene during the Covid-19 public health emergency and to avoid exacerbating access issues for alcohol-based hand sanitizer.”