LAHORE: Taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudsters are thriving by selling fake hand sanitizers in local markets whereas Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) Director General (DG) Suhail Shahzad has confirmed that the new manufacturers do not have licenses to produce the sanitizers, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday.

The development was brought to light when a medical store owner near General Hospital informed this scribe that unknown salesmen from supposedly new companies have been approaching medical stores and shops in the area with the offer of low-cost hand sanitizers on a daily basis.

“We meet a new salesman from an unknown company every day. Their hand sanitizers are like water with either a bad smell or completely odourless. The packing of bottles is evidently cheap and the prices are not as per quality. They are offering us handsome profits, insisting that we display their product at prominent places in our stores,” the pharmacy owner said.

“People are relying on hand sanitizers as one of the best sources for preventing coronavirus. But if they use these sanitizers that seem ineffective, they won’t be killing any germs or viruses,” he added.

A manager of an eminent departmental store shed more light on the fake business.

“It is true, which is why we do not even allow such salesmen to enter our stores. These businesses sprung up when there was a shortage of good quality hand sanitizers a month or so ago. Now, a number of cheap and fake hand sanitizers are still being sold in markets. They have managed to convince a number of shopkeepers who are shamelessly selling them because of the handsome profit margin they are getting,” he revealed.

ET&NC DG Suhail Shahzad, who was transferred from the post three days ago, said, “Without testing, we cannot decide whether the sanitizer is real or not. The composition of the product can be determined with a simple test; however, it costs Rs20,000 to 25,000 as per Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) Lab rates”.

The ingredients of hand sanitizers include ethanol, gel, aloe vera and water. Fake companies use a lesser quantity of gel than required as it is expensive and instead add more water. Ethanol, however, is not very costly. A small bottle costs a manufacturer Rs50 and is sold in the market at almost Rs150.

It may be mentioned here that these tests are performed to determine the presence of ethanol which should be at least 75 per cent in order for the product to work.

According to the details, efforts are underway to provide manufacturers with the maximum ethanol possible so that the supply of sanitizers does not get affected and fake businesses are not able to harm people.

“The thing to ponder on, however, is that one who is producing these sanitizers? Do they have a license from us or any other province? All over the country, there are barely any companies that have a license to obtain ethanol. The ET&NC has sold some 250,000 to 300,00 litres of ethanol during the lockdown days,” Suhail Shahzad concluded.