ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Hand-sanitizer sold at CVS stores can't possibly be as effective as the company claims it is, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
CVS faces the case in New York federal court and must defend itself against claims that alcohol doesn't not kill "99.99% of germs." It is not possible for the product to meet those expectations, the suit says.
"(I)t is scientifically proven that alcohol-based hand-sanitizer does not kill many types of germs," the suit says. "It does not kill many non-enveloped viruses, such as norovirus."
Norovirus causes 58% of foodborne illnesses in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
"It is hard to believe that Defendants' hand-sanitizer kills 99.99% of all germs, while excluding the family of viruses that cause more than half of all food-borne illnesses in the country," the suit says. "It also does not kill bacterial spores, protozoan cysts, some parasites like Giardia, and the diarrhea-causing bacterium Clostridium difficile."
Lawyers at Wilsshire Law Firm and Schlanger Law Group are pursuing the class action.