
World's Largest Producer of Rubbing Alcohol Can't Manufacturer Hand Sanitizer - jseliger
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/worlds-largest-producer-of-rubbing-alcohol-cant-manufacturer-hand-sanitizer.html
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otterley
Source article: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-you-cant-find-rubbing-
alcoh...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-you-cant-find-rubbing-
alcohol-11588629519)

Please also note that this is a raw opinion piece not linked to any news
articles containing further details about the FDA’s actions.

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solarwind
The authors of Marginal Revolution are two well-renowned economics professors.

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Scoundreller
> The Food and Drug Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
> and Explosives have prohibited the use of ethanol in place of isopropyl
> alcohol even though both are equally effective as germ-killers.

Huh? I thought most of it was made with ethanol?

Just checked a USA Target, and Purell is 70% ethyl alcohol.

The problem with using IPA is that you can easily die if you drink it.

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refurb
_The problem with using IPA is that you can easily die if you drink it._

Random fact - IPA is not that toxic. If you drink it, your body will happily
oxidize it to acetone. Acetone is not that toxic since your body produces it
when burning fat. Estimated fatal dose of IPA is 500mL.

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js2
TIL. However, the CDC quotes a source saying it’s about half that:

> Human data: Ten volunteers exposed for 3 to 5 minutes to 200, 400, or 800
> ppm reported mild to moderate irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat at
> the two higher concentrations [Nelson et al. 1943]. The probable lethal oral
> dose has been reported to be 190 grams [Gosselin et al. 1984].

[https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/67630.html](https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/67630.html)

IPA has a density of 0.786 g/cm3 (20 °C) (per Wikipedia), so that’s 190/0.786
= 242 ml (about 8 oz).

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techdragon
LD50 and estimation of fatal doses can be tricky. Opting for “overly
conservative” is hardly inappropriate either. So I wouldn’t be surprised if
both of these numbers were correct for different testing criteria.

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mypalmike
How dare the FDA stop harmful chemicals from fuel-grade ethanol finding their
way into my Purell! Surely the market would solve this problem itself. Once
people get skin cancer, they will simply stop buying the lower quality,
dangerous product. This is econ 101.

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throwaway_pdp09
There was a huge surge in the UK for alcohol-based hand sanitiser, the price
shot up, and despite that pretty soon you couldn't get it anywhere. People
were stealing it out of hospitals.

I went round the corner to a hardware shop and bought 2 litres of methylated
spirits for a tenner. Mixed it 3 parts meths to 1 part water, bingo.

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chrisseaton
I've read that you shouldn't do this because it dries your hands, unlike the
gel which has a moisturiser component, and can cause cracks into which... an
infection can get.

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throwaway_pdp09
Hmmmm. Cui bono on that claim, I do wonder. ([https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/cui%20bono](https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/cui%20bono))

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ARandomerDude
Yeah we've heard of Cicero. And Cassius.

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beervirus
This seems pretty reasonable. Fuel-grade ethanol probably has other stuff in
it that may or may not be safe. The FDA doesn’t want people rubbing it on
their hands until the factories demonstrate that it’s safe.

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Scoundreller
This isn’t universally true, but I once toured a sulfuric acid plant, and the
only difference between their technical grade, food grade and pharma grade
were the price and the certificate it came with.

But ya, they’d be upset if anyone was permitted to use the tech grade as
food/pharma grade without paying the price.

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justin66
I'm pretty sure the point is that distillation for fuel doesn't remove all the
aldehydes (and other stuff?) that distillation for rubbing alcohol would
normally entail. One more trip around in the still (or however the heck
continuous distillation works) would probably make the product work fine.

One assumes they're trying to sell alcohol that was originally destined for
use in fuel (since we're idiots and we put alcohol in gasoline) for another
use, since the demand for fuel alcohol cratered and the demand for rubbing
alcohol skyrocketed.

