#Roommates, as the worldwide panic surrounding the coronavirus continues to increase at a rapid rate, many are utilizing their own methods to stay safe and healthy. However, a local 7-Eleven owner may have taken things too far when they started selling homemade spray sanitizer that left customers with serious injuries.
@TIME reports, New Jersey 7-Eleven owner Manisha Bharade, 47, was arrested earlier this week and charged with deceptive business practices and endangering the welfare of a child, according to Bergen County prosecutors. Bharade allegedly made and sold a “dangerous spray sanitizer” in the convenience store that resulted in apparent burns on several children’s skin.
New Jersey police responded to a call placed regarding the 7-Eleven location in River Vale on March 9th to seize the remaining bottles of an item that was sold as “spray sanitizer”—after multiple social media posts detailed how three 10-year-old boys and one 11-year-old boy from the area had suffered apparent burns on their arms and legs after using the product sold by Bharade. The DIY product allegedly combined commercially available foaming sanitizer with water and packaged it for resale. A chemical reaction from the mixture is what reportedly caused the burns.
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Police Lieutenant John DeVoe released a statement regarding the incident:
“While further investigation is underway, our first priority is to make the public aware that they should not use this item if they purchased it at the River Vale 7-Eleven. As far as we know, this issue is limited to the River Vale store at this time. From the information that we received, approximately one dozen of the bottles were sold to customers today.”
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal had harsh words for those who are utilizing similar practices:
“Let me be perfectly clear: if you try to take advantage of our residents during a public health emergency, we will hold you accountable. Retailers who try to make a quick buck by exploiting others will face civil and criminal consequences.”
The 7-Eleven location is also the subject of an open investigation from the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs regarding the sale of other health and sanitation products at the store since the coronavirus outbreak began earlier this year.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
