[Domingo]

Domingo asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Just listened to the section of your podcast about taking a bath in vodka and could the bather get drunk via skin absorption from the immersion.

I suspect yes they can and will. Someone else will have to prove this, my opinion is derivative by nature.

I learned this from a veterinarian. They used to mix drugs with a highly Volatile Organic Compound such as Methyl Chloride (he was, btw, very adamant about not using Methyl Ethyl Ketone!) and rub the paste or liquid on the shaved haunch of a horse or cow. The drug was directly  transported into the bloodstream with passage of the VOC thru' the skin. For some of the drugs, the telltale to prove that the drug had infused  into the body was to smell the breath of the animal. The characteristic scent of the drug would be apparent in less than a minute.

Additionally, he told me that I could do the same thing using some drops of cinnamon oil mixed with the Methyl Chloride, dipping my pinky finger into the liquid. The taste of cinnamon would be on my tongue within 10 seconds. Well, I did it once and it worked. Knowing even then about carcinogenic problems from chemical exposures, I've not done it again.

I'm now a lab tech and work with epoxies, Denatured Alky, Acetone, and sometimes Toluene.  I always wear gloves.

Thank you for the priceless dissemination of knowledge your show and
podcast extend to world.

Respectfully,

Ming Diaz
Great Mills, MD

What do you think?

[lindsayle19]

Mathematical Modelling of Chemical Diffusion through Skin using Grid-based PSEs

http://www.springerlink.com/content/k7kl37058173nx29/