SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are urging the Food and Drug Administration to allow Iowa ethanol plants to produce hand sanitizer.
In a letter dated Tuesday to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, the senators take issue with an unexpected change in FDA guidance on the quality standards the sanitizer needed to meet.
At first, Grassley and Ernst wrote, the FDA said the ethanol did not need to meet two federal benchmarks. This prompted ethanol plants, struggling amid a drop in gasoline demand, to begin shifting to sanitizer production.
The FDA has since reversed that guidance, which the senators called “inexplicable.”
“As more of the economy gets reopened, the need for hand sanitizer at schools, restaurants, churches, factories, and other locations will continue to grow,” the senators wrote. “While the FDA has taken action to prevent a potential shortage, further clarification is needed to help businesses have certainty on the future of hand sanitizer manufacturing.”
The letter also implied the FDA may be under-informed about how the sanitizer is being made.
“At one point, the indication was that FDA had become concerned that gasoline or other fuel additives might come into contact with ethanol in the production process, which appears to reflect a misunderstanding of how ethanol plants operate,” Grassley and Ernst wrote.
The senators asked for a follow-up by June 2.
