The pros and cons of sanitisers

The pros

In a response to a newspaper article about Wara Bilong Life, a local reader in Dunedin, New Zealand, suggested that sending bottles of hand sanitiser to PNG would easily solve the washing hands problem. Your answers both in support and against this solution will appear here as you send them in.

Why won't we send some over each month?

My friend still asks will we be still be able to send over some hand sanitisers over, made out of healthy and enviromentally friendly materials?

The cons

We, the students of 9C Social Studies at Te Puke High School believe that the hand sanitisers are not the answer to the problem faced by the children of Papua New Guinea.

Hand sanitisers are an expensive means to the problem.  Unless a company or companies that produce this product are willing to sponsor the product how will the schools afford such a product? Also, will it not create another issue? If the bottles are not recycled what will happen to them? Where will they get rid of them? Are the bottles biodegradable?

Q/ What would the bottles of sanitiser be recycled as?
Q/ Who would sponsor this idea as it will be a costly exercise?
Q/ How do you regulate the amount of sanitiser being used by each student?
Q/ What are the ingredients within the sanitiser?
Q/ What are the pros and cons to each of these ingredients?
Q/ Will the ingredients cause the skin to appear and feel dehydrated?

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I am a student from Ngunguru Primary School. Won't they just want more Hand Sanitisers? How will they be able to pay us back unless a leading company offers to send some Hand Sanitisers over for some Papua New Guinea people? One of my class mates said why won't we send some over each month, But like I said they won't be able to afford it and what if they run out?

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Vanessa, Carmen, Morgan and Clair of Botany Downs Secondary College.

Hand Sanitizers, also known as an alcohol rub, is a supplement to hand washing with soap and water. There is a variety of preparations available including gels, foams and liquid solutions and its active ingredient could be isopropanol, ethanol or n-propanol. It contains alcohol which effectively kills germs.

Pro 's of hand sanitizers Can carry it anywhere (great of travelling) Kills germs fast (99.9% of germs) in about 15 seconds Leaves your hands dry No rinsing, towels or water are needed Food safety approved To some it doesn't dry out skin

Con's of hand sanitizers Can irritate skin Can cause allergies (as it contains alcohol) Effectiveness is short-lived and can only reduce bacteria for a limited amount of time Hands will be re-contaminated after touching another thing Strong smell Some people may get dry skin