Nearly 500 children ate hand sanitizer and had to be treated or their parents advised by the Indiana Poison Center at IU Health in 2020.

This may go in the “believe it or not” category, because sanitizer tastes awful and is basically all alcohol. Dr. Blake Froberg, a toxicologist at Riley Children’s Health, says that’s why most kids who would try it just spit it out.

He said the appeal is generally not the taste.

“You have some of these products that are colored certain ways or have popular cartoon or superhero characters that may make a young child think that there’s something good to get into in those bottles,” he said, adding that because of the pandemic, more sanitizer is available and in homes.

So, if the kids do consume enough of it, the effect would essentially be drunkenness.

“That could include having some trouble walking, having slurred speech, being confused or overly sleepy and tired.”

If that happens, it’s time for a call to the Indiana Poison Center, at 1-800-222-1222.

Froberg suggests supervising your kids when they are using sanitizer. Otherwise, keep it away from them. He said it’s also a good idea not to buy the ones that may be colored and look like a flavored drink, or the ones with cartoon characters.

When asked if older kids could get some kind of toxic effect from sniffing sanitizer, Froberg said not likely, but he wouldn’t recommend it.