I just got my latest Cravebox in the mail yesterday and most of the items were really fun. The theme this month was “back to school”. The pens and pencils were really awesome. So were the cute tissues. But one item in the box really concerned me.
Have you seen this product before?
Halo Germ Defense.
Like I would with any food I plan to eat I looked at the box carefully.
What did the cover say to me? It looked to me like a little girl was spraying this product into her mouth on this box. Hmmmm, keep reading. I turn the box once to the right. The box tells me I should use Halo when I am exposed to airborne germs, and they suggest that these airborne germs are found in:
*offices
*classrooms
*airplanes
*elevators
*malls
*and restaurants.
I turned the box over to the back side. Active ingredient is: Cetylpyridinium Chloride. WHAT? That does not sound good to me. And yes, you are supposed to spray this product three times into the oral cavity( I am guessing they could easily have said mouth here) allow the medicine to spread through the mouth, then swallow.
Next step for me was to google Cetylpyridinium Chloride. Here is the wiki page for this ingredient. Scroll down a bit and it says “It is toxic when swallowed or inhaled”.
So now lets go back to the cover picture. To me, that looked like a little girl. She would be going to school and I would want to protect my little girl from all the terrible germs in the air. But WAIT! The back of the box says this product is only for adults and children 12 years of age or older and it says Children under 2 should consult a dentist or physician.
There are so many things that scare me about this product. And if you know me, I am a huge germaphobe who must ask the kids 100 times a day, have you washed your hands recently??
I googled “Halo germ Defense Concerns” and I got nothing.
I am the only person worried about this product?
Forget about the main ingredient of Cetylpyridinium Chloride for a minute. Lets look at the inactive ingredients that are included:
copovidone
flavor, yeah, what is that?
methylparaben
PEG-60
hydrogenated castor oil
propylparaben
sodium benzoate
sodium saccharin
xantham gum
xylitol
My google search gave me very little so I went to the Halo Facebook Page. Here I found lots of, save yourself from germs, use our product posts. I also saw lots of people posting that they got the Halo product in a goody bag, at Blogher, or as a sample and they just loved it. Other people posted that they were going to use it everyday. These posts scared me even more.
Any scientists here who can explain this product to me, and tell me why it is safe?
If not, I will be keeping my oral cavity clean and free of Halo, and probably getting sick as soon as my kids bring home the next germs from school.
No help, just wanted you to know that you are not the only one that thinks this is too good to be true. My family is not using it.
I did see a Kids formula at the store yesterday. I'm still dubious about it though… I would never use it "daily!" Yikes. I am sooo tempted for those total exposure to the public times though, like the big carnival we attend each year. Last year my eldest caught the flu. It's so tempting…