Flushing out the History of Hand Sanitizer

Welcome to Becoming Sage where the ordinary becomes extraordinary! My name is Elan Baumgarten. This is our fourth episode where we will flush out the history of something that has recently boomed in popularity, out into the open. By the time awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic had reached everyone’s ears, sales started to skyrocket. We are talking about a 300-450% boost in sales for any given week. Many are familiar with it as it was one of the household staples for any pandemic store. It is hand sanitizer, or sometimes referred to by the biggest brand names: Purell or Germ-X. Now, let's go take a look at where this disinfectant gel originated from. By far the largest component in sanitizer is Alcohol. Alcohol’s properties as a disinfectant are far from a modern revelation, it has been used for such applications since the Romans started with it in the second century, although they were not scientifically proven to have these benefits until 1875. By 1930, ethanol alcohol became the primary method of disinfectant and sanitizing in hospitals. Now, jump to 1966. A nursing student named Lupe Hernandez resides in Bakersfield, California. Hernandez realizes that the application for a cleansing gel using ethanol would help with sanitation, as soap and water are not always an option. And with that she got off to work. Now here is where it gets interesting, but first I’d like to ask that anyone streaming this episode make sure to follow the show to be notified with each new release, and make sure to download so that you can listen back from anywhere! If you are listening live on the radio, check us out on a streaming program! Now, back to the episode. Lupe Hernandez is widely known for being the inventor of hand sanitizer, but there are definitely other accounts of other people inventing it first! Back in 1842 the use of a chlorinated lime solution, possibly the first iteration of hand sanitizer, was starting to see use… and it worked! Child-bed fever mortality dropped from 18% all the way down to 2%! By the turn of the 20th Century the use of ethanol has become more prevalent. A study from 1903 by Harrington and Walker shows that 50-70% ethanol is actually more effective than anything with 80-90% ethanol, and it was later backed up by a study from Beyer in 1911 which had a very similar conclusion. The biggest difference between our modern hand sanitizer and what these people were using is a very big one, that you might not have thought of. Hygienic hand sanitizer versus medical disinfectants. In 1905 Carl Flügge (Floo-guh) made that distinction, introducing the use of soap and a scrubbing brush for medical uses, leaving these hand disinfectants purely for the use of hygiene. Jerome and Goldie Lippman, a husband-wife team, invented an industrial hand cleaner made of petroleum that was “orange-smelling” called the GOJO Hand Cleaner. It was intended for removing oil from the hands. This was in 1955. A decade later Warren E. Nelson patents a device designed to completely submerge the hands in a cleaning solution. Now, in 1997 the same company, GOJO, launches an isopropyl alcohol based hand sanitizer, with other chemicals to reduce the effects on skin. Or in other words, make it smoother on the hands. Its name: Purell. In 2002, just five years later, the CDC informed the wide-public of the usefulness of hand sanitizer in reducing the threats of diseases. Following this announcement, the United States Army implemented wide-spread hand sanitizer for…well…sanitation. Thank you for listening to Becoming Sage, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. My name is Elan Baumgarten. Feel free to write us an email at sagebecoming@gmail.com and tell us from where you think hand sanitizer really came from, Lupe Hernandez, or this string of cascading inventions, eventually leading to the modern hand sanitizer gels. Once again, that was sagebecoming@gmail.com, make sure to follow us for the next episode where you can listen to the ordinary become extraordinary!