Although SLDS181 is absolutely right, Glycerine , USP is Glycerine, USP(1,2,3 propanetriol) and made to USP compendial standards. The Humco brand has been verified to be vegetable sourced Glycerine(by the QA person at Humco). Humco contract packages(meaning, places their manufactured product into other company's bottles) for every major pharmacy label in the country. From their company information they contract package for the following:
Among our wholesale customers are McKesson Healthcare Solutions, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen(which is the Family Phamacy and Good Neighbor Pharmacy labels) along with most regional wholesalers. In addition, Humco supplies products to Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and Wal-Mart.
So any Glycerine, USP labeled in any of the above mentioned Pharmacy lables(i.e Family Pharmacy, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreen's and Walmart labels) IS USP grade AND Vegetable sourced.
As for Swan's label. I cannot honestly believe that it is animal sourced(due to the issues with porcine(pig) sourcing that I referred to in another thread.) However Bluesuede, I did read your reference in another thread as well and certainly understand your concerns, and I have a call into Carol Jones(she has not called back) to see if she may have misspoken in her communication to you. The only reason I can think that a Walmart pharmacy would even have Swan Label Glycerine to sell to you would be that it was in the back of the pharmacy, specifically for compounding of topical creams/ointments etc..., and they decided to sell it to you because they were not compounding enough and wanted to get rid of it. Although if it is USP grade, it is perfectly safe to use. The injestion warning is due to the fact that Glycerine injested in moderate to large quantities will act as a VERY effective laxative and may, therefore, cause electrolyte imbalances(because of this laxative effect) in predisposed individuals
Again, any Humco packaged Glycerine, USP I mentioned above IS veg sourced and made to USP specs.
P.S. Anyone can feel free to purchase VG from a health food store, and it probably will be perfectly safe( and possibly a bit less expensive), but just remember, health food products(vitamins/herbs/other health food items etc...) are not regulated to the higher standards that OTC drugs and OTC formulations labeled with the USP standard. Reference the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 for more information on the differences.