Taxacom: Questions for insect collection people

[Kipling W Will]

At least historically, e.g., in the USA during the Prohibition period,
"denatured" alcohol was used. In some countries I have travelled to, when
EtOH (the "drinking sort") was not available, ethanol mixed with methanol
and isopropyl alcohol, to make it unfit for human consumption, was readily
available. These additives can inhibit later use of tissues for DNA
extraction, however. So that might be a factor to consider. But as far as I
know, denatured alcohol works fine as a preservative. Hand sanitizer may
have any number of proprietary ingredients that could impact the specimens
in unpredictable ways.

On Tue, Jan 7, 2025 at 8:20 AM Mary Barkworth via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> If ethanol is not legally available for either killing or storing insects,
> what is the best alternative? Two that have been suggested are hand
> sanitizer (70% alcohol plus other compounds) and isopropyl alcohol. Are
> there other alternatives? Any comments would be welcome. Both legal
> availability and cost will factor into the final decision but, before
> looking into those, what would be the best alternative to ethanol, assuming
> it is legally available in Somaliland, the country where we are working?
>
> Mary
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