Lawyers See Opportunity In Risks Associated With Palcohol

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - And you thought alcohol was for drinking...

To the surprise of many including, apparently, the product's creator, Palcohol, a powered form of alcohol that can be mixed with liquid to make it alcoholic (not to mention the people who use it), was initially approved for sale last month by the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, whcih almost immediately revoked the approvals, citing the fact that the label was unclear about how much alcohol was actually in the packaging, although many believe that the backtracking was related to concerns by lawmakers and communities about the dangers of powdered alcohol.

Indeed, the FDA has been asked by lawmakers now to step in to prevent the sale of powdered alcohol.

Perhaps the makers of Palcohol should be concerned about the other great threat to their manufacturing: the lawyers who are ready to pounce on harms caused by the product and any failure to disclose proper usage and warnings of the danger of misuses of their product, which may be why, in anticipation of sale, the company has changed its website from offering recipes of how to add the product to food products like guacamole, to warnings about the fact that its use in cooking is unknown.

In any event, as with any dangerous/fun new product, the lawmakers and the lawyers will likely have a field day before this product is released into the marketplace.