Hand Sanitizer has been used to quickly clean one’s dirty hands on the go, but have the businesses producing the disinfectant been hiding a dirty little secret?

It was invented by Lupe Hernandez in 1966 when “he discovered that alcohol in gel form could be safely used to kill surface area germs,” says microchelab.com. Hand sanitizer became popular a little over thirty years ago, in the late 1980’s, according to Purell, “to meet the needs of healthcare providers and restaurants operators looking for ways to reduce the spread of germs.” Hand sanitizer works by making use of a chemical compound called isopropanol alcohol which is essentially rubbing alcohol. This works because this substance kills bacterial germs while leaving human cells unharmed.

Since the industrialization and urbanization of hand sanitizer, it has become a staple part of today’s society. When asked, Grace Njorge said, “I use hand sanitizer every day at least four times a day. I like to feel clean and it makes me feel clean and like I’m not going it get sick.” Grace isn’t the only one that uses hand sanitizer excessively. According to research conducted by the Nielsen Company hand sanitizer sales have gone “up more than 70% since this time this year.” People are buying and using their hand sanitizer, but this overuse could have a negative consequence.

Even the best things in large quantities can be bad for one’s health, and hand sanitizer is no exception. Currently, the FDA is researching three active ingredients that are used in some of the most popular hand sanitizers such as Purell, Germ-X, and Bath and Body Work’s cleaner. The FDA says they, “don’t have enough evidence yet to say whether it’s dangerous for humans, but animal studies suggest that there could be some issues.” They suggest that more tests need to be done to determine anything for certain. The overuse of hand sanitizers is slowly starting to cause the bacteria in the world to evolve to be able to survive the use of this alcohol. “The idea is,” says Dr. Natalie Azar, “that perhaps it could breed antibiotic resistance, ruining the natural flora on the skin.”

So, while using hand sanitizer is better than using nothing at all, it is still important to realize that the overuse of hand sanitizer could result in several negative consequences.