When someone tested 12 samples of bac water, only two passed muster for pH and correct percent of benzyl alcohol. One that passed was Lambda. I did not trust the results because it did not include a test for sterility, which is crucial. Besides, I had seen a negative review of Lambda bac water on Amazon that included a photo of a vial with debris floating in the sealed vial.
Bac water is no longer sold on Amazon, but ads for Lambda bac water keep popping up on my FB feeds. I responded to one ad with a question: “I expect you are using sterile vials. But, is the bac water itself also sterilized?”
The response was “Yes the vials are sterile. The BAC water contains 0.9% benzyl alcohol which the active sterilizing agent.”
Benzyl Alcohol is bacteriostatic, not bactericidal. It inhibits bacteria from multiplying. It does NOT kill existing bacteria. And, it also does NOT destroy viruses or fungi. Adding 0.9% benzyl alcohol ONLY preserves the sterility of water that has ALREADY been sterilized!
Why can't we take 2 liters of distilled water (50 cents), stir in 19grams of benzyl alcohol ($2.00), and fill 200 10-mL vials ($39.00) with the solution. Seal the vials and cook them in a pressure cooker half filled with water at 10lbs of pressure (240deg F) for 10 minutes which would sterilize the vial, stopper, and the water, producing USP level sterility and very long shelf life. Distilled water is free of all minerals and its pH is between 5.8 and 6.8 (due to CO2 absorption). Benzyl alcohol remains stable to above 400deg F so the post bottling sterilization will not degrade it.
This home-made back water would be truly sterile, really contaminant free, and be the correct pH. The cost for the whole batch would be $42.00, or 21 cents for each 10mL vial.
Is anyone doing this? If not, why not?
