Libertarian: FDA Slams Hand-San Distillers

While “distillers saw making sanitizer as a way to stay afloat while helping their communities” early in the pandemic, the FDA’s dogged harassment since has taught many “that dealing with government regulation turns this into a mistake they would not repeat,” laments Jacob Grier at Reason. It recently notified “at least 11 distillers in nine states” that samples of emergency hand sanitizer taken in 2020 had “exceeded temporary limits of two impurities” — mainly acetaldehyde, “a chemical that occurs naturally in fruits and dairy products” and “beer, wine, and spirits,” and demanded “extensive records” of distillers’ “production and distribution.” If it’s a serious issue, why did the FDA wait 18 months “to begin acting on the test results, long after the sanitizer was distributed” and after the distillers had quit that work? They’re now in a hellish bureaucratic limbo, not knowing if “they will face recalls that might damage their reputations or be required to pay fines.”