An article published by Bloomberg on Wednesday gives a list of several hand sanitizers that were found to have high levels of the cancer-causing chemical benzene in them, especially products that flooded the market after the most popular brands ran out of supply early in the coronavirus pandemic

The article lists 15 hand sanitizers with the highest levels of carcinogens, the most unsettling to me being the Star Wars The Mandalorian brand, something I'm sure was a big hit among children.

Here is Bloomberg's list:

  1. artnaturals
  2. Scentsational Soaps & Candels Inc.
  3. huangjisoo
  4. TrueWash
  5. The Creme Shop
  6. Star Wars The Mandalorian
  7. Body Prescriptions
  8. Born Basic
  9. beauty concepts
  10. PureLogic
  11. Miami Carry On
  12. Natural Wunderz
  13. clean-protect-sanitize
  14. Puretize
  15. Hand Clean 100

The list is a bit frightening, especially because most of us spent the past year all but bathing in hand sanitizers in an attempt to fend off the coronavirus. It may be a good idea to take a closer look at the products you still have lying around your house.

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While I was working on this article, a coworker looked at this list and realized that his daughter had a small bottle of the Star Wars The Mandalorian hand sanitizer and was immediately worried. Given the popularity of the Disney+ series, it's likely he isn't the only person worried.

It's not clear at this time exactly what caused the contamination, but it's possible that benzene ended up in the sanitizer during the manufacturing process when the alcohol in the product was purified.

Benzene has been linked to blood cancers like leukemia. Smoking makes up roughly half of the benzene exposure we see in the United States today.

Do any of these products look familiar to you? Comment below or on our Facebook page.

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