# Mercurochrome **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 9, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011 "2013-07-09T04:30:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![violetwrites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@violetwrites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violetwrites)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/1 "2013-07-09T04:30:30Z")
Thank you so much for your knowledgable article and all the information regarding Mercurochrome. I couldn’t figure out why I haven’t been able to find. No iodine either only Betadine. I liked Mercurochrome because it was effective and didn’t sting like iodine. Wonderful and informative place you have here. I really like it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/2 "2013-07-09T04:52:57Z")
Presumably you are referring to [this column?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2518/what-happened-to-mercurochrome) It’s good to give a link so we all know what we’re talking about from Post 1. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/3 "2017-03-16T15:16:20Z")
Bumped because the article’s back on the front page. Cecil referred to “the so-called GRAS (generally recognized etc) list.” What does the AS stand for in that acronym? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/4 "2017-03-16T15:19:09Z")
[https://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GRAS/](https://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GRAS/) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/5 "2017-03-16T15:43:56Z")
Ah, thanks. Wiki didn’t have that. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/6 "2017-03-16T16:37:07Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Ah, thanks. Wiki didn’t have that. Wiki, meet Google. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/7 "2017-03-17T01:33:28Z")
Don’t remember Mercurochrome when I was a kid. My doctor used Gentian Violet (very popular I think in WWI and WWII). I asked her in the 70’s why mercurochrome had become more popular than gentian violet, and she suggested that it was because gentian violet was more noticable. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/8 "2017-03-17T12:03:24Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Wiki, meet Google. No Wiki+Google needed. He used the expanded form of the acronym twice in the first paragraph 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercurochrome/663011/9 "2017-03-17T12:58:47Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Don’t remember Mercurochrome when I was a kid. My doctor used Gentian Violet (very popular I think in WWI and WWII). I asked her in the 70’s why mercurochrome had become more popular than gentian violet, and she suggested that it was because gentian violet was more noticable. Thank you! I’ve always wondered what that stuff was. I remember having it applied in my mouth when I was ~5 and seeing my reflection in the doctor’s mirror.