When There Wasn't Enough Hand Sanitizer, Distilleries Stepped Up. Now They're Facing $14,060 FDA Fee

https://reason.com/2020/12/30/when-...VF-Hy40N6TNTX73bZgfYUP648XGWwPyWkEJEIrm10FyIo

This is why I am a libertarian. 800 companies stepped up to provide hand sanitizer and the thanks they get is a bill for nearly $15K.

Total trash by the USG.

 

I agree they should wait to pay it with the hope the publicity will cause the FDA to pull back on this. However, our local distillery charged $40/gal for the stuff so I won't shed tears for them and it had an indescribably awful smell. Told people it would have been cheaper to go to the liquor store and bought a few jugs of the god awful Bowman's Vodka.

 

Reading the article, how ironic that this is something they are getting billed for as a direct consequence of the CARES act:

Maybe if they can grab just enough of the news cycle on the story they can get the administration to make a policy change on enforcement of the fee, or who is counted as an over-the-counter drug monograph facility. It should be a bipartisan issue to not punish businesses for stepping in and helping produce a good the nation needed when supplies were low.

 

The latest from Reason: In a Last-Minute Reversal, HHS Voids FDA Fees on Distillers Who Produced Emergency Hand Sanitizer

Mercifully, looks like media coverage brought the matter to the attention of the head of HHS, who decided to overrule the policy.