Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
1568. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the process by which the hand-sanitiser ViraPro received PCS certification; if the product was tested by his Department before certification was issued; if replacement products have since received certification from his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33930/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraBiocidal products, including hand sanitisers, may only be marketed and used in Ireland once they are registered with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and are entered on the Biocidal Product Register" in accordance with Regulation 20 of Statutory Instrument 427 of 2013.
The hand sanitiser Virapro was approved by our Biocides Unit and placed on the approved register of biocide products on 21st April 2020
The product had been registered on the basis of the documentary application, including a technical specification that it contained 70% ethanol which is a common standard for hand sanitiser products and fully complies with regulations.
In line with the procedures put in place to ensure sufficient Hand Sanitiser products to respond to the unprecedented demand at the time, the administrative checks applied at registration included the provision of a Safety Data Sheet for the Virapro product from the supplier which was submitted with the application for registration. Following a request by my Department, a revised Safety Data Sheet for the product was submitted before registration was granted. A data sheet for the active ingredient ethanol was not submitted with the application. As this is an administrative process, no samples were submitted as part of the approval process.
It is important to note that the primary issue with the product subsequently was that it did not conform to the approved specification.
All applications for registration of biocidal products are evaluated and those that fully comply with the regulations continue to be approved. There are more than 450 hand sanitising products listed on the register of approved products.
My Department is continuing to increase its testing of product on the market to provide reassurance in relation to compliance with approved product specifications. Test results available so far indicate no safety issues with other sanitiser products sampled.
