Don't drink alcohol from Styrofoam cups

[snopes]

Comment: I am writing seeking the answer to a rumor that rolls through the
student body at the school where I work ever so often and is darned
persistent. The kid spreading the rumor usually swears an older brother
or sister at college has a friend or saw someone at a party die
"instantly" or go into convulsions and later die at the hospital because
alcohol was being served in Styrofoam cups. While I have tried to point
out logically that this is highly unlikely, the chemistry doesn't make
sense, or that it was probably the last in a much-too-long line of
alcoholic drinks rather than the mix of Styrofoam and alcohol that caused
the poisoning/death, I am an English (not a Chemistry or Health) teacher
and the rumor rolls back through regularly. Obviously, this isn't a rumor
I'm interested in testing to failure.

Surely, some expert out there has done the research or knows enough
chemistry to definitively put this particular dead horse down!

Does putting drinking alcohol from a Styrofoam cup result in death by
poison?

[A Turtle Named Mack]

When in college, I researched this situation extensively, though informally, and there is no truth to said rumor. At least, it is not the styrofoam causing a problem.

[queen of the caramels]

why only alcohol and not coffee, tea or soda for that matter??

[Horse Chestnut]

(Sniff) Everyone knows the only proper vessel for the imbibing of alcohol is the red Solo cup.

[UEL]

I know to not put two-stroke gasoline in a styrofoam cup**. But alcohol?

Come to think of it, I haven't seen a styrofoam cup in a long, long time. They all seem to be paper.

**Two-stroke dissolves the styrofoam leaving you with a puddle of diesel and melted styrofoam to clean. I found out as the result of trying to prime an engine that had stalled and needed something to move a small amount of fuel. Did not work very well.

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by queen of the caramels

why only alcohol and not coffee, tea or soda for that matter??

Coffee and tea are both something like 98% water and Styrofoam was designed to hold water.

Alcohol is, well depends. Pure alcohol will dissolve some plastics and will leach things out of other plastics. So if you are drinking Everclear (95% ethanol) it might leach a small amount of stuff out of Styrofoam. Most alcoholic drinks though are much lower in alcohol and the combination of water and alcohol is much less likely to leach things out of plastics.

I would put the possibility of leaching (or dissolving) an instantly toxic substance out of Styrofoam with drinking alcohol at 0%.

I would put the chance of death of a person drinking 95% alcohol from any container at substantially greater the 0% and all of the risk is directly related to the health affects of alcohol.

[DurasnoPeach]

Wouldn't one think if it were true that the makers would have defended a few lawsuits and at least made to put warning labels on them?

[overyonder]

Originally Posted by UEL

I know to not put two-stroke gasoline in a styrofoam cup**. But alcohol?

Come to think of it, I haven't seen a styrofoam cup in a long, long time. They all seem to be paper.

**Two-stroke dissolves the styrofoam leaving you with a puddle of diesel and melted styrofoam to clean. I found out as the result of trying to prime an engine that had stalled and needed something to move a small amount of fuel. Did not work very well.

Gasoline dissolves styrofoam, yes. The addition of 2-stroke oil has little to do with it, though, I believe. I guess it probably happened to you using pre-mixed gas.

OY

[UEL]

Originally Posted by overyonder

I guess it probably happened to you using pre-mixed gas.

It sure did. I was going off of a data point of one incidence, and was not sure if it was the petrol or the oil that did it. I nearly burned my hands off when it happened.

[Little Pink Pill]

Originally Posted by DurasnoPeach

Wouldn't one think if it were true that the makers would have defended a few lawsuits and at least made to put warning labels on them?

If it were something that happened with typical alcoholic beverages, one would think so.

Welcome!

[overyonder]

Originally Posted by UEL

It sure did. I was going off of a data point of one incidence, and was not sure if it was the petrol or the oil that did it. I nearly burned my hands off when it happened.

That's why I keep an old glass mason jar in the garage handy, with a big label that reads "GAS ONLY" I avoid using plastic as much as possible when transferring any chemicals/volatiles/combustibles.

OY

[me, no really]

The plastic they make ice cream containers from here seems OK for petrol. I have used them in the past for cleaning small engine parts, and a bit of petrol is a very effective cleaner.

[GenYus234]

Kerosene (paraffin? ) is also a good cleaner and with a higher flash point, probably a bit safer.

[overyonder]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

Kerosene (paraffin? ) is also a good cleaner and with a higher flash point, probably a bit safer.

It (kerosene) works fine, but it takes a rather long time for the smell to go away. I filled up a kerosene lantern recently (NOT white gas) and my hands smelled of kerosene well after washing my hands twice, and even taking a shower.

My cleaner of choice is usually denatured alcohol, followed by acetone, xylol, kerosene, etc. Acetone can be tough on plastics too, though.

OY

[boogers]

My experience is that unless you're brewing your party hooch out of paint thinner, there is no problem.

If you are brewing the hooch out of paint thinner, you'll have a lot more problems than a melted cup.