# Is Purell Dangerous?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 22, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473 "2004-05-22T02:59:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473/1 "2004-05-22T02:59:12Z")

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I was sending a package to my husband who is stationed in Afghanistan. I included a bottle of Purell Hand Sanitizer.

The post office made me remove it because they said it could ignite in the intense heat of the Middle East…

Can it spontaneously combust? Doesn’t it require a spark? Can it possibly be dangerous during shipping to Afghanistan?

The ingredient list is as follows:  
Active Ingredient: Ethyl Alcohol 62%. Inactive Ingredients: Water, carbomer, tocopheryl acetate, glycerin, propylene glycol, isopropyl myristate, aminomethyl propanol, fragrance.

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473/2 "2004-05-22T03:09:33Z")

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It’s likely the high alcohol content they were concerned about. 140+ proof ethanol can evaporate pretty fast if you stick it in the back of a mail truck that drives around all day in 120°F heat. Ethanol vapor is very flammable and there’s no way to know if Afghani mail trucks are equipped with air conditioning or adequate ventilation, or whether they are free of ignition sources.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473/3 "2004-05-22T03:42:48Z")

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The flashpoint of 60% alcohol is 80˚F (27˚C) – the temperature at which a spark will start a fire in an open container. At 150˚F (a likely temperature in a truck in the desert), it won’t spontaneously burst into flames, but there will be a LOT of alcohol fumes.

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**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473/4 "2004-05-22T05:59:48Z")

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Even if it doesn’t catch fire, all that expanding ethanol vapor has to go _somewhere_, so the bottle could explode (in the “catastrophic structural failure” sense, not “fireball”) from the pressure, depending on how tightly the lid closes.

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**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473/5 "2004-05-23T01:40:25Z")

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Thanks, all. You guys rock!

I was thinking someone was just being silly but it sounds legit.

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**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-purell-dangerous/246473/6 "2004-05-23T05:39:19Z")

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A gelatinous blob of alcohol murdered my brother!