ViraPro Sanitiser, was widely distributed in schools and other places by the government to combat Covid-19 virus. But the product was banned by the Irish government yesterday.
The ban was imposed after they found out the excess presence of harmful chemicals and also people who used the sanitiser were reported to be having various health problems. The company was also instructed to recall products from the market.
The government has received more than three million sanitizers from the company.
Of these, more than one million sanitizers have been distributed to various health care centers and schools across the country, an HSE spokesperson said. The rest is kept by the government.
At the same time, HSE has commissioned a special team to assess how many products have been removed and how many have been replaced.
ViraPro sanitisers are supplied to hospitals, GPs, dentists, community health care facilities, nursing homes, testing centers and the National Ambulance Service.
These were recalled by the Department of Agriculture following the detection of the presence of methanol in them.
At the same time, SIPTU said that health workers are concerned about the use of unsafe and health-promoting sanitizers.
Meanwhile, the education department has initiated action to check sanitising products in schools.
All the products listed in the multi-supplier agreement sent to the schools by the end of August will be inspected by the Department of Agriculture.
The new decision follows government action to recall ViraPro’s sanitizers.