Hand sanitizer label design vector graphic template for packaging design.

Green Seal, the nation’s leading non-profit authority on safer and more sustainable cleaning and facility care products, announced that Essity’s Tork Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitizer and Physicians Group Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitizer are the first hand sanitizers in the marketplace to earn Green Seal certification.  

Green Seal screened 100 percent of the Tork Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitizer and Physician’s Group Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitizer formulas for carcinogens, reproductive toxins, skin irritants, phthalates, parabens and contaminants before awarding the certifications. The products also were required to meet uncompromising performance standards, use ingredients that do not pollute waterways, and use environmentally preferable packaging materials.

Green Seal’s new hand sanitizer certification standard was created with input from public health and industry experts amid concern about toxic ingredients in hand sanitizers.  

With the COVID-19 pandemic spurring many first-time producers to enter the market, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers to avoid more than 200 hand sanitizer products due to incorrect formulations and high levels of hazardous ingredients including methanol (wood alcohol) and the contaminant 1-propanol. Meanwhile, even when properly formulated, hand sanitizers available in the U.S. can include hazardous ingredients linked to cancer, allergies, skin and eye irritation and other harmful health effects.

“Formulating with safer and more sustainable ingredients is vital for a product people apply to their skin dozens of times a day,” said Doug Gatlin, CEO of Green Seal. “There is a critical market gap right now where buyers know to beware of toxic or ineffective hand sanitizers but are hard-pressed to quickly and easily identify safer options. Green Seal certification gives consumers, purchasers and facility managers confidence that they are buying a hand sanitizer that has been independently verified to the highest standard for health, safety and effectiveness.” 

Green Seal’s hand sanitizer certification standard is part of the non-profit’s initiative to harness its expertise to provide products, services and guidance that help protect people from both COVID-19 and negative health impacts from toxic chemicals.