Ethanol producers say that they can produce millions of gallons of alcohol that could be made into hand sanitizers.

Health care workers across the US struggle with the shortage of hand sanitizer, and ethanol producers are willing to help. However, federal regulators have been preventing this from happening.

The reason is that most ethanol plants make food-grade ethanol, which is a step below medical grade. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worries about allowing people to put a lower grade alcohol on their skin. Some officials say that the FDA should consider loosening its guidelines, which would allow ethanol producers to help with the hand sanitizer shortage.

In recent days, federal regulators have relaxed restrictions to support to production of medical supplies like gloves, ventilators, and coronavirus tests.

Difficult words: ethanol (a type of alcohol that is used to reduce infection), shortage (not enough of something), loosen (to make less strict).