The Publicity Hound’s Blog

Purell hand sanitizer I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in the glove compartment of my car because, I confess, I sometimes eat in my car when I’m in a hurry.

Yesterday, when I was conducting a teleseminar for people in The Publicity Hound Mentor Program, I learned that that’s not so smart.

Marilee Tolen, an expert in holistic health marketing, rattled off a list of reasons why hand sanitizers—specifically, the Purell brand—can be dangerous to your health:

—Purell contains isopropanol which is used to denature the ethanol in Purell, and isopropanol is poisonous.

—On Feb. 1 this year, The New England Journal of Medicine published information on the dangers of ingesting hand sanitizers.

—Purell kills all of the bacteria on the skin, even the good bacteria, which help fight the bad bacteria. Eliminating the bad bacteria means skin is more “naked” than it already is—with lowered protection and lowered immunity.

Air fresheners also can be hazardous to your health. Last week, one day after a group of environmental organizations asked the federal government to start assessing the risk of air fresheners, Walgreens pulled three of its products off store shelves.

I asked Marilee how she’s using both stories to her advantage.

–She’s blogging about them and mentioning that essential oils, which she sells, are good alternatives to hand sanitizers and air fresheners.

—She’s creating Google Alerts and posting comments at other blogs that discuss this.

—She’s writing articles for online article directories.

—Tomorrow’s issue of her ezine includes a lead story on the dangers of air fresheners.

When bad news breaks about a product or service that you compete with, are you jumping on every opportunity to offer yourself as the safe alternative?

Marilee is even hosting a series of teleseminars starting this week. They teach holistic health counselors, nurses, doctors, therapists, educators, healers, massage therapists, nutritionists, spa owners and health care business owners how to create a huge presence for themselves online.