Urban Myth... it must be. I can't see how a kid could get drunk off the stuff unless they drank it. But on another note, I've read editorials that suggest that we are becoming too sterile, and that can be just as bad as being non-sterile (hence, we don't give our bodies a chance to build up an immunity to common viruses). I agree that we should push washing the hands over all the anti-bacterial over-kill.

From About.com:

Comments: True. On May 14, 2007, Fox23-TV in Tulsa reported that 4-year-old Halle Butler of Okmulgee, Oklahoma was hospitalized with symptoms of intoxication after ingesting a small amount of hand sanitizer in her pre-kindergarten classroom. The product, which consists of 62% ethyl alcohol (more than most hard liquors), had been applied to the childrens hands by their teacher just before lunchtime, but instead of rubbing it in, Halle licked it off her skin and essentially got drunk. She was fine once the alcohol had worked its way through her system, but the incident threw such a fright into parents and administrators alike that further use of the product was banned in the school. I should note that the email contains one apparent factual error (or perhaps just a typo), namely that the Halles blood alcohol level was measured at 85% in the emergency room — an impossibly high percentage. The author may have intended to write .085 A similar mishap was reported last January in Minneapolis, where 2-year-old Sydney Moe ate some of the hand sanitizer gel her mother kept by the sink and was rushed to the emergency room with a blood alcohol concentration of .10 percent — legally drunk, by the statutes in most states. She, too, recovered quickly, but the Minnesota Poison Control Center warned that the high alcohol content of hand sanitizers and other common household products such as mouthwash and perfumes can pose a serious health threat to small children and should be kept out of their reach except under parental supervision. Some hand sanitizers contain isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol instead of ethyl alcohol, making them even more dangerous to ingest.

This article says that it's true.

www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp

maybe that's why seventh graders like the stuff so much. they're not germaphobes; they're using it to get buzzed at school. hee-hee. that's not really funny, but it kinda is, considering how many people swear by the stuff, esp. teachers. we had 6th graders getting high off of huffing body spray at school earlier this year.

i don't keep the stuff easily accessible so i haven't had any problems but a couple of teachers have reported they went thru an awful lot this year.

i vote for soap and warm water.

The 10:00 news reported last night that young children should not use the sanitizer because of the alcohol content.  It absorbs into the skin of a young child quickly and causes health problems.