Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 4th December 2025 Issue no. 1189

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Over 800 industry leaders, health practitioners and academics unite against ban on ethanol-based products - vital for public health

A total of 842 companies, organisations, associations and individuals, representing over 20 sectors from healthcare and food & beverage, to pharmaceuticals, transport, agriculture, cosmetics and energy, have joined forces this week to call on EU and national decision-makers to take urgent action to prevent a de facto ban on ethanol-based biocidal products.

Coordinated by AISE, the European trade association for detergents and maintenance products, the signatories represent all 27 EU Member States and beyond, underlining the widespread concern and pan-European, cross-sector impact of this decision.

Many of the signatories are expressing serious concerns about the ban…

• Florian Vernay (pictured), president of AISE: "A reclassification of ethanol in biocidal products would be disastrous for public health in Europe. Ethanol-based disinfectants, hand sanitisers and other products are proven safe and effective and are used by millions of Europeans every day. Decisions about their future must be based on real use data, not data on abusing alcoholic drinks."

• Alexandra Peters, president of Clean Hospitals: "European authorities must fight to protect the availability of ethanol; a de facto ban would have disastrous consequences for public health. Ethanol-based hand sanitisers and disinfectants have been used safely for decades. Furthermore, if we have another pandemic, all local emergency production of alcohol for healthcare is ethanol because it can easily be made from commonly available ingredients. If we have a public health emergency without available ethanol, there will be many additional lives lost because of it."

• Professor Didier Pittet, former director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety and director of the infection control programme at Geneva University Hospitals: "Alcohol based hand sanitisers are a fundamental, safe, and irreplaceable aspect of hand hygiene in hospital settings, which in turn is the single most important factor for infection prevention. If health practitioners in Europe lose access to ethanol-based solutions, the results will be catastrophic: more illnesses and more deaths. Clearly, this must be avoided."

• Dirk Jacobs, director general of FoodDrinkEurope: "Ethanol-based disinfectants are vital to keeping Europe's food safe. Every day, producers across the EU depend on ethanol to disinfect equipment, containers, utensils and surfaces, protecting consumers and preventing contamination. Viable alternatives offering the same level of safety, efficacy, and residue- free performance simply do not exist."

Ethanol: a cornerstone of public health and safety…
Ethanol is the essential ingredient in hand sanitisers, surface disinfectants, antiseptics and many other biocidal products that keep us all safe. It is indispensable to public health, economic prosperity and industrial resilience across the EU. No alternative substance matches its proven efficacy, safety and availability.

At risk of misclassification…
The European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) Biocidal Products Committee is currently considering whether to recommend, at its meeting on 26th November 2025, an EU-wide reclassification of ethanol in biocidal products as a Carcinogenic and Reproductive Toxicant (CMR) Category 1A based on data that looks only at oral abuse and overconsumption of alcoholic beverages rather than the use of ethanol-based biocidal products, which are safe.

Such a move would contradict the established guidance and recommendations of the World Health Organisation, as well as advice from the European Commission, European Centre for Disease Prevention and from international partners, including in the US.

If implemented, this reclassification would in practice remove ethanol-based products from public use and severely restrict their availability in professional settings under the EU's Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). Derogations under the BPR are not the solution as there is no possibility for authorisation for public use, and derogations for professional use would be time limited, granted only on a case-by-case basis by individual EU Member States after a complex risk assessment process.

This authorisation process for professional purposes would, along with reducing the availability of life-saving products, impose a significant bureaucratic burden precisely on those who can least bear it, for example, hospitals or even individual departments, supermarkets, farms, medical laboratories, restaurants and transport networks. This runs directly counter to the European Commission's commitment to simplify regulation, remove red tape and better support European business and citizens.

AISE and the signatories remain open to dialogue with EU and national authorities to safeguard the continued use of ethanol: a safe, indispensable, and life-saving substance.

AISE represents an industry that supplies essential detergents, cleaning and maintenance products, disinfectants and biocidal products across Europe. Based in Brussels, the Association has been the voice of the cleaning & hygiene products industry since 1952. Membership includes 30 national associations across Europe, 20 corporate members and 19 value chain partners, collectively representing a network of companies supplying household and professional cleaning products and services.

Read the statement at:

https://aise.eu/handsupforethanol/act-now-future-ethanol-based-biocidal-products/

Join the conversation: #HandsUpForEthanol, via:

Nicole Vaini, head of EU affairs
T: +32 479 153 912
E: [email protected]

Aisling O'Kane, senior communications manager
T: +32 485 996 042
E: [email protected]

6th November 2025