Matrix Report
An unprecedented surge in demand for hand sanitizers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in the regulatory system in the country where no official agency is responsible for its quality standard and pricing mechanism.
Turning to social media the Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary tweeted that sample testing by Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) showed that 23 brands of sanitizers being sold in the market were “not in conformity with WHO standards, we have advised health departments to remove these brands from stores”.
Around 105 items are under the mandate of PSQCA to meet “Pakistan Standards” at its website, which includes a number cosmetic and consumer items such as toothpaste, skin cream, shampoo, hair dyes, toilet soaps, tea-whitener, packed milk etc. However, the list does not contain sanitizers.
“But there is no lab – at least in the civil public sector to perform microbiology test to show that 99 per cent germs were killed after using any sanitizer, which is the standard test,” a senior PCSIR official said, “possibly that is why we do not have any standards for sanitizers.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend a sanitizer that contains 60% to 95% alcohol content where as in Pakistan a vast majority of these products lacked ethanol.
