There's also Sterillium, which the German company Hartmann claims was "the world's first marketable alcohol-based hand disinfectant" when it hit European shelves in 1965. patent for hand sanitizer under that name from the 1960s. However, a recent investigation by the Smithsonian Institution historian Joyce Bedi was unable to turn up any trace of Hernandez, or any evidence of a U.S.
One version of the story points to Lupe Hernandez, a nursing student in Bakersfield, California in 1966, as the inventor of hand sanitizer after combining alcohol and gel for use by doctors in situations where they don't have time to access soap and warm water before treating patients. The resulting product is typicall sold in a hand gel or liquid spray under brand names such as Purell or GermX.īut while alcohol has been in use as an antiseptic since the late-1800s least, the exact origins of hand sanitizer are up for debate. Most hand sanitizers contain anywhere from 60% to 95% isopropyl or ethyl alcohol mixed with water and gels like glycol and glycerin in order to prevent drying out users' skin. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do note that, when it comes to preventing the spread of coronavirus, "if soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol."Īnd indeed, that is the primary ingredient in hand sanitizer: alcohol. have jumped by "double-digit" percentage points during the coronavirus pandemic, but nowhere near the increase of hand sanitizer sales, according to Nielsen's research.) soap industry is worth more than $2 billion per year. What's more, the run on hand sanitizer also came as health officials across the country have remained adamant that the best way for people to combat the spread of potentially dangerous germs is simply through diligent hand-washing with soap and water. With some consumers even hoarding hand sanitizer amid the shortage, online prices for the products soared, leading law enforcement officials in many states to threaten prosecution for price-gouging against third-party sellers on sites like Walmart and Amazon (where an 8-ounce bottle of Purell that would normally cost $2.50 was briefly on sale for $90 before being removed by Amazon in early March).
Supermarkets and pharmacies across the country have sold out of hand sanitizer, leaving only empty shelves where disinfectant products would normally be found. That's in an industry that already sees more than $200 million in annual sales of hand sanitizer products in the U.S., according to Nielsen. The following week, the first week of March, hand sanitizer sales shot up by 470% compared to the same week a year earlier, Nielsen tells CNBC Make It. were up by 300% compared to the same week a year earlier, according to market research from Nielsen. During the last week of February, a period that saw the first American death from COVID-19, hand sanitizer sales in the U.S. ever since the first case of COVID-19 hit the country. Purchases of the disinfecting gel have skyrocketed in the U.S.
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