Health Officials Seeing Spike In Hand Sanitizer Ingestion By Teens

LAWRENCE, KS (CBS) -- Hand sanitizer seems to be falling into the wrong hands these days.

Health officials in Kansas say more and more kids and teens are landing in the hospital after drinking hand sanitizer.

Alcohol can comprise as much as 70 percent of the germ killer.

At the poison control center at the University of Kansas, they've been dealing with kids getting drunk and sick off of sanitizers for a while, but since January, they've had more than 150 such calls.

Dr. Joanie Bow, of the University of Kansas Medical Center says, "As a teenager, you have some pocket change, and it is cheaper to buy that than regular alcohol.

Health officials are also critical of the companies that package the hand sanitizers. They say many of the gels come in "kid colors," so that kids will like them.