The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), Washington, D.C., launched a public education campaign to remind adults to keep hand sanitizer out of reach of children.

 “Amid a massive shortage of hand sanitizer in the United States, more than 700 distillers across the country are coming to the aid of their communities to produce this much-needed item during the COVID-19 crisis,” said DISCUS President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Swonger in a statement. “Distillers are jumping in to help stop the spread of COVID-19, but we also want to raise awareness among adults that hand sanitizer should be kept out of reach of children.”

 The campaign features public education images created by DISCUS that will be shared on its website and highlighted across its social media platforms. In addition, DISCUS is providing the images to distillers who are producing hand sanitizer and encouraging them to share on their social media channels.

“The message is simple: Keep your kids safe by keeping hand sanitizer out of reach,” Swonger said. “Through this campaign, we want to help share a proactive prevention message as we fire up our stills to keep our communities safe.”

Swonger said the public education campaign was developed to support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has expressed concern about children inadvertently consuming hand sanitizer as the demand for this product increases because of COVID-19. For more information, see the FDA’s webpage on safely using hand sanitizer.

 “There’s no doubt distillers would prefer to be making whiskey and other spirits right now, but they are all honored to be able to support their local first responders and health professionals in the fight against COVID-19,” Swonger said. “The distilled spirits industry is committed to doing its part and we will continue to work closely with the FDA to meet the significant demand for hand sanitizer.” 

For more information, visit http://distilledspirits.org/KeepOutOfReach