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On a political level, Swedish transport ethanol has always been embedded in visions of an alternative, brighter future. Arguments in support of ethanol have been reiterated throughout the 20^th and 21^st century, exhibiting a striking stability over time. At the same time, the contexts in which arguments for ethanol have been raised have undergone dramatic shifts. This article investigates the historical contingencies of three empirical cases, covering the interwar years, the aftermath of the oil crises of the 1970s and the 21^st century's concerns over global warming. It concludes with the observation that despite political convictions about ethanol's commercial, military and environmental potential, domestic production has not managed to take off on its own. It has relied on state support such as tax exemptions, it has been dependent on other industries for feedstock provision and its technical superiority is still waiting for market confirmation.

This article investigates the political efforts to establish ethanol as a national fuel in Sweden in 1924 - 1934. Drawing on official records - the transcripts of parliamentary debates, governmental commission reports, and government bills and legislation - ethanol is considered as a technological and political artefact, with a particular focus on a strongly ideological fuel policy intended to bring about technological change.

At the time, considerable political effort went into finding and establishing a national fuel, efficient and abundant enough to support the nation's requirements for essential products. This was by no means a uniquely Swedish undertaking. Nation-states all over the industrialized world sought domestic fuel alternatives, prompted by the expected depletion of oil reserves and the fear of renewed international conflict. In that period, Swedish ethanol was distilled from fermented sulphite lye, a waste product from paper and pulp production. It was therefore presented as a lucrative solution for a waste problem, and, as it was produced within the nation-state's borders, a promising wartime surrogate. However, ethanol was more expensive than petrol, which made it less marketable during peacetime. To cover losses, the ethanol industry requested state support in the form of tax exemptions and legislation to force petrol importers to blend ethanol into all marketed petrol.

Those who argued in favour of the ethanol industry's requests were mainly right-wing politicians, who based their arguments on a nationalist ideology that national collective benefit justified state intervention in the free market. Opposition was mainly mounted by a faction in the Social Democrat party. For them, any measure that made products more expensive for consumers was unthinkable. They also argued that the ethanol industry had reached the end of the line; any production without the means and capacity to support itself should make way for its competitors. Concerns about the anticipated international conflict, however, led the Social Democrat minister for finance, Ernst Wigforss, to concede to the demands of the ethanol industry. In 1934, he thus proposed legislation that largely corresponded to claims made by right-wing politicians and the influential forestry industry, of which ethanol production was a part.

Chronic carbon monoxide poisoning as a contested disease 1944–1961. By Helena Ekerholm. During World War II, wood gas became the primary fuel for Swedish motorists. Although reliable as an emergency fuel, wood gas caused concern due to its high percentage of carbon monoxide, leading to acute and chronic carbon monoxide poisoning mainly among workers in the transport sector. Chronic carbon monoxide poisoning became an intensely debated diagnosis within the medical community. The article discusses this controversy with specific regard to Thomas Gieryn’s boundary theory and the concept of culture-bound diseases in Sweden primarily associated with Karin Johannisson’s research in the field of the history of medicine. Source material includes medical scientific publications and archive material from a state research centre handling chronic carbon monoxide poisoning. Politically the diagnosis reached high credibility, but within the medical profession the diagnosis and its clinical practice were criticised. Symptoms were diffuse and included general fatigue, headache, vertigo, sleeping problems, apathy and decreased libido. Doctors diagnosing patients with chronic carbon monoxide poisoning had primarily to rely on patients’ own descriptions of their ailments, although some clinical tests were also executed. The first clinic specifically aimed at carbon monoxide poisoning, Sabbatsbergs gengasklinik, received criticism for over-diagnosing. The clinic was accused of creating a wood gas scare in the Stockholm region and causing an epidemic of imagined chronic monoxide poisoning, spurred on by extensive writings in the popular press. The controversy concerned problems of discerning those who were considered to be “objectively ill” from those who through fear had induced chronic carbon monoxide poisoning upon themselves. Notions of working-class masculinity, boundaries between physical and mental illness as well as a clash of interests between the labour movement, national social insurance offices and private enterprise are some of the facets within a complex controversy ultimately focused on drawing boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate patient demands and achieving epistemic authority.