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There have been issues in that many ethanol producers are not licensed to produce medical-grade ethanol, which is what’s required for hand sanitizer. So it hasn
by URSpider94 6y ago
There have been issues in that many ethanol producers are not licensed to produce medical-grade ethanol, which is what’s required for hand sanitizer. So it hasn’t been entirely straightforward to convert biofuel or drinking alcohol production over.
- jessaustin 6y agoI can see why sanitizer used in a hospital would have to be "medical-grade", whatever that means. Why would any other sanitizer need this? If the fluid was safe to drink (most alcoholic beverages are sold for this purpose), why wouldn't it be safe to rub on hands?
- buckminster 6y agoI don't know about medical-grade but it's usually illegal for a brewery to produce alcohol strong enough to be useful as a sanitizer.
- jessaustin 6y agoThread parent referenced a distiller. Distillation is the process that turns fermented products into sanitizer and other wonderful fluids.
- URSpider94 6y agoHand sanitizer is ordinarily considered a medical product, and is subject to FDA controls. (Medical grade in this context means United States Pharmacoepia [USP]) The requirements for anything put into a medical product are stricter than those for food and drink. That doesn’t mean that it’s any cleaner per se. The link below describes the situation from last month, since then the FDA has temporarily relaxed the regulations to allow compounding of sanitizer using other grades of ethanol. https://www.google.com/amp/s/cbs2iowa.com/amp/news/local/ethanol-plants-seek-rule-changes-to-resupply-hand-sanitizer-03-28-2020 https://www.google.com/amp/s/cbs2iowa.com/amp/news/local/eth...