Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire says that there are “major questions outstanding” after the ViraPro “fiasco”.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has removed the ViraPro hand sanitiser brand from the Biocidal Product Register.
The product has been found to have “possible health concerns”, and members of the public are advised to “stop using this sanitiser with immediate effect”.
Also Read: Hand sanitiser brand removed from biocidal register by departmentDeputy Ó Laoghaire said:
“Schools have had to deal with enough chaos this year, without the fiasco of an email at 10:40pm last night (Thursday, October 22) informing them that they should no longer use one of the eleven sanitiser products recommended.
“The reality is that many schools only learned about this issue this morning and had to make a call then and there. While some schools were successful in obtaining a replacement, many others were not.
“For those schools it is an enormous disruption on the last day before mid-term. Many parents have been left scrambling at the last minute to either find childcare or to take a day off.
There are huge questions here for the Department of Education. The Department of Agriculture recall notice was that products were due to be recalled by Tuesday, so why did it take so long for the Department of Education to get the word out? Schools and parents should have been informed immediately.
“The Department of Agriculture said it was recalled as ‘prolonged use of such sanitiser may cause dermatitis, eye irritation, upper respiratory system irritation and headaches’, and already I am being contacted by parents worried about irritation to their children’s skin and asthmatic children.”
The deputy feels that “questions need to be asked” about how the products were cleared.
“The department said last night that some of the sanitiser on sale does not comply with regulations governing the content and efficacy of such products,” he continued.
“Did the Safety Data Sheet indicate that the product was safe for use by children? Was it adequately checked before being checked?
“Does the department have any comeback against the company if the product did not do what it said on the sheet, and was not as safe as advertised?”