Hydroquinone a DEA listed chemical? I don't think so!

[CBG]

What in god's name is the issue with hydroquinone and tunnels? Have the chunnel folks gone paranoid like some of our domestic security people? What about hydroquinone in hair/cosmetic potions?

[desertrat]

Call the Formulary and talk to Sherry. I'm sure she can help you.

PE

Thanks PE, and 2F/2F. It was Sherry who sent me the email asking for the intended use form for the hydroquinone. I guess she should know which of their chemicals require these forms. Anyway, since I already emailed her last night with a request to cancel the order, I'll wait to see if there is any response.

Something odd happened when I was filling out the online order form. I filled out the usual blocks with name, address, credit card info, etc. There was a block for company name, but I left that blank because I'm not a company and don't have a company name. I've left similar blocks blank on order forms from other companies and have never had any problems. But when I submitted this form, I got back an error message saying the company name block was empty and had to be filled in.

I scratched my head over this, because I understood that the Formulary does sell to private individuals. I tried resubmitting the form and got back the same error message. In desperation, I filled in the block with a handle I use on other internet forums, similar to the one I use here but spelled differently. Then the form submitted OK and I got a confirmation e-mail.

In the next day or so I got the e-mail from Sherry asking for the DEA form for the hydroquinone. Maybe they didn't like the looks of a company named Dezzertrat or an e-mail address beginning with dezzertrat. I don't know. At this point, I don't want to try to straighten this out. I just want the pending order to quietly go away and I will continue to buy photo chems from other companies I've done business with who don't require these forms or photo ID.

[KenR]

I had to jump through similar hoops to buy a good 25ml graduated cylinder to use with HC110 and Rodinal. I had used good glass lab ware in college and in a research lab that I worked in, and so wanted to get a lab grade measuring device rather than photo grade plastic. Well, same story - license and all kinds of forms for a $20 piece of glass. Somehow the people who are making crystal meth get the supplies they need, but we are given a hard time trying to get legit stuff for our hobby.

[Joe O'Brien]

Somehow the people who are making crystal meth get the supplies they need

Well, I know where I will go to get my graduated cylinders in the future!

[Photo Engineer]

Some things you should know:

1. The Unabomber lived about 50 miles south of the Formulary. I suspect that every chemical company and drug company within about 100 miles was thoroughly investigated by the FBI when he was finally arrested!

2. Shipping overseas is quite different than domestic in terms of cost, customs and regulations. Since Digital Truth is located in the UK, they have different regulations shipping to Commonwealth countries and since they also have a presence in the US, they can ship here freely. The Formulary has no international presence at this time AFAIK.

PE

[ic-racer]

You need a perscription for this:

HYDROQUINONE USP, 4% SKIN BLEACHING CREAM
Hydroquinone USP, 4%

Skin Bleaching Cream

FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY

NOT FOR OPHTHALMIC USE

Rx Only

[Ian Grant]

There's an irony that jewellers can easily buy Potassium cyanide through their suppliers (used for stripping - cleaning, castings and plating) with no paperwork and more importantly no audit trail of the disposal, and as photographers we have issues with far less hazardous substances.

Should add that about 25 years ago my factory unit had a visit from the London Met Drug Squad looking for an illegal narcotics factory, that was because equipment suppliers had passed on what I was buying. Our use was legit so no problems.

It's not just the DEA or equivalent that want forms filled it's local authorities and police as well in some cases. It can be non chemists who make arbitary and nonsensical decisions as to what is/isn't safe.

Ian

[desertrat]

OK, I think I may have found a link that may shed some light on this. I did some googling to see if there was any recent connection between hydroquinone and the DEA. I found this drug fact sheet from the DEA website. It's a fact sheet for opium:

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/abus...eets/Opium.pdf

I can't copy and paste from a pdf sheet, but here is the relevant text:

Drugs causing similar effects

morphine, codeine, heroin, methadone, hydroquinone, fentanyl, and oxycodone.

I think in this case adding hydroquinone to the list was a typographical error, as I don't believe ingesting it will get a person high, just very sick. However, these lists are distributed to people who do business with the DEA, such as retailers of chemicals. I guess it's possible that hydroquinone might become very hard or impossible to get for a while until all this gets straightened out.

[Gerald C Koch]

I had to jump through similar hoops to buy a good 25ml graduated cylinder to use with HC110 and Rodinal. I had used good glass lab ware in college and in a research lab that I worked in, and so wanted to get a lab grade measuring device rather than photo grade plastic. Well, same story - license and all kinds of forms for a $20 piece of glass. Somehow the people who are making crystal meth get the supplies they need, but we are given a hard time trying to get legit stuff for our hobby.

The people making crystal meth use jam jars. The local news often shows their "equipment" after a bust.

I wonder what the DEA thinks of the organic solvent morpholine? Is it also on some list? This is all a result of the plan to dumb-down America. We can't allow the rabble to have chemicals!

[ntenny]

Typo for "hydrocodone", no doubt. I suppose they'll get around to fixing it eventually, but who knows how long the correction will take to propagate. Bother.

-NT