By Janet Raloff
From San Diego, at a meeting of the Society of Toxicology
People should avoid alcoholic drinks before working with toxic compounds, new research suggests. At least in laboratory rats, drinking ethanol compromises the skin’s barrier to chemicals.
Researchers at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Evanston, Ill., fed alcohol to rats in amounts ranging from the equivalent of half a drink taken by a person to more than enough to make a person legally drunk. Beginning 2 hours later, team members took a patch of skin from each animal, applied a chemical to it, and measured how much passed through.