The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is an unprecedented global pandemic, sparking grave public health emergencies. One of the measures to reduce COVID-19 transmissions recommended by the World Health Organization is hand hygiene, i.e., washing hands with soap and water or disinfecting them using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser (ABHS). Unfortunately, competing ABHSs with unknown quality, safety, and efficacy thrived, posing yet another risk to consumers. This study aims to develop, optimise, and validate a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS)-based analytical method to simultaneously identify and quantify ethanol or isopropyl alcohol as the active ingredient in ABHS, with simultaneous determination of methanol as an impurity. The GC–MS was operated in Electron Ionisation mode, and Selected Ion Monitoring was chosen as the data acquisition method for quantitation. The analytical method was validated for liquid and gel ABHSs, covering the specificity, linearity and range, accuracy, and precisions, including the limit of detection and the limit of quantitation. The specificity of each target analyte was established using the optimised chromatographic separation with unique quantifier and qualifier ions. The linearity was ascertained with a coefficient of determination (r2) of > 0.9994 over the corresponding specification range. Respectively, the accuracy and precisions were satisfactory within 98.99 to 101.09% and < 3.04% of the relative standard deviation. The method was successfully applied to 69 ABHS samples, where 14 contained insufficient amounts of the active ingredient. Alarmingly, four samples comprised a high amount of methanol ranging from 5.3 to 19.4% with respect to the active alcohol percentage, which may pose significant short- and long-term health issues, leading to life-threatening crises for consumers. The method established would benefit in protecting the public against the potential harm due to substandard or unsafe ABHS products, primarily due to the presence of hazardous impurities such as methanol.

Electronic cigarette (EC) is a device that imitates conventional cigarettes, which vaporizes a solution, with or without nicotine. This study evaluates the nicotine levels in EC refill solutions, its release in aerosols and comparison to the amount stated on the label. Seventy-two (72) different EC refill solutions were obtained from local shops in Selangor, Malaysia consisting of 40 nicotine-containing (3-12 mg) and 32 nicotine-free (0 mg) solutions. Aerosols were obtained by using an air tight syringe connected to an EC device to draw aerosol through an XAD-4 sorbent tube that trapped the nicotine. Nicotine in solution and aerosol samples are analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry equipment. Quantified nicotine in 40 nicotine-containing solutions ranged from 0.224-17.306 mg/mL. Nicotine is detected in 3 of the 32 nicotine-free solutions. Percentage of nicotine released into aerosols from refill solutions varied from 0.54%-28.2%. Out of the 40 samples, thirty-two (32) had nicotine content that violated by more than ±10% from the value on the label. In comparing the labels, 19 samples have 0.3%-77% higher nicotine level and 13 samples have 0.2%-96.3% lower nicotine content. The inconsistency between the labelled and true levels of nicotine content indicates that commercial information may be misleading. The presence of nicotine in the nicotine-free refill solutions and higher nicotine content in aerosols may be addictive and may have negative health effects on users.