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D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor

The Curious Matter of Dwindling Supplies of Hydrogen Peroxide

September 5, 2020 --

LPR, after his escalator fall, a couple of weeks ago, applied hydrogen peroxide to the wounds on his arm to prevent infection.  Going to a local drugstore for more peroxide, LPR learned that the price of a 16 ounce bottle had zoomed upward, to $2.99.   Previously peroxide cost some $1.99 or less a bottle.  (I think that an even larger bottle had cost $1.99.)   I concluded that price-gouging was afoot, but purchased the peroxide to keep my wounds clean.

A few days later, coming home from Robert Moses State Park in the late evening, LPR went to a Walgreen to get more peroxide.  The clerk handed LPR a spray container of peroxide, not a bottle.  The price was, again, $2.99, but the amount was only eight ounces.  Having no alternative, I purchased the spray container, thinking that less peroxide per application will be used because the spray will yield a more focused amount.

A few days after that, LPR went to the  local drug store for more hydrogen peroxide and this time was given a four ounce bottle for one dollar.  That comes to four dollars for a 16 ounce bottle. LPR  wondered about the smaller size, but did not ask any questions.   A day or so after that, LPR realized that  the contents of the small bottle  could be poured into the eight ounce spray container, thereby using less of the peroxide per application. (By the way, this was the first time LPR saw hydrogen peroxide in a spray container.)

On Monday, August 31, LPR again went to the  local drug store, after learning that another drug store in the vicinity was out of hydrogen peroxide. (LPR went to the second drug store in hopes of finding normal sized bottles of peroxide.)   The only hydrogen peroxide available in the  regular drug store came in the small, four ounce bottles.  LPR asked the pharmacist whether something was going on about peroxide, something to do with the pandemic.  LPR was mildly surprised when he said yes.  He added that he was lucky to get the four ounce bottles.   He also said  that there are shortages of other medicines, even Lysol.

LPR VISITORS, HAVE YOU NOTICED HYDROGEN PEROXIDE SHORTAGES AND/OR PEROXIDE PRICE-GOUGING AT YOUR LOCAL PHARMACIES?   If so, LPR suggests you write to your elected officials, including the President who has said he is trying to get Big Pharma to lower prices.  It seems, as with hydrogen peroxide, Big Pharma is taking advantage of ordinary Americans.  The silence of our elected officials suggests how far removed they are from our reality.  Or is it that elected officials, along with members of the media, don't ever need drugstores?   

And LPR suggests that our hydrogen peroxide problem is another reason why lots more ordinary citizens should know about www.lonelypamp[hleteer.com,  This website, after all,  TAKES NOTICE WHEN OFFICIALS AND THE MEDIA DON'T.