In Prison, You're Not Supposed to Drink the Soap Either

This is not something you'd think you'd have to tell people, but apparently you do:

At least two people have become intoxicated by drinking hand-sanitizing gels, a potentially deadly habit, doctors reported Wednesday.

A prison inmate and a hospitalitzed alcoholic both were treated for poisoning from the gels, which contain alcohol -- but not the same kind as found in beverages.

Evidently people misunderstand the labels that show the gels, foams and liquids contain alcohol, the doctors said in separate letters to the New England Journal of Medicine. Cases of people drinking the hand gels because of their alcohol content have not previously been reported in major medical journals.

I know of at least one other example personally, because I wrote about it for Book of the Dumb 2 -- there were a bunch of kids at a rock concert in Sweden a couple years back who saw that the soap in the portable toilets contained "alcohol," so they started to drink it, and of course got dreadfully ill. That's because, as the article notes, the sort of alcohol used in soaps and hand sanitizers, isopropyl alcohol, is the sort that is poisonous to humans. But people see the word "alcohol" and they get all crafty.

So, kids, just say no to guzzling hand sanitzers. And if you've started, stop. Just stop. No good will come of it. There are other, better ways to clean your epiglottis.

Tags: Hand sanitizers, Alcohol, Those poor stupid desperate people

Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry

This entry has 5 comments: (Add your own)

#5 Comment from coelha
2/3/07 10:48 AM | Permalink

You should see how resourceful women are in jail. This has nothing to do with drinking sanitizing gels, but these women get all dolled up before their court appearances by simply using the ink from the few magazines they are given. To get that extra special look, they use sugar and water for that Farrah Fawcett swept hair look... Julie :)
#4 Comment from mavarin
2/2/07 1:56 AM | Permalink

There's also a Snopes story (rated TRUE) of a toddler getting ill from this:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp
#3 Comment from monponsett
2/1/07 8:31 PM | Permalink

When I was in college,I did the night shift at a factory.

Several guys there were into "huffing"... sniffing paint. They'd get a bunch of paint in a plastic bag, let it congeal into a solid, then just stick their face in the bag and get off on the vapors.

I- despite being pretty into getting high myself- never tried it myself, and with good reason. Anyone who does this walks around in a stupor for about 5 minutes... a dangerous thing to do in a factory.

I can recall going to the break room and seeing a guy half dead from doing it. I started slapping him, yelling in Franglais.. "You will wake up now,.Bobby!" He was out for about 5 minutes, and his pulse rate sent me scrambling for the batphone to call an ambulance.

Bobby's friend Sean did so much paint, we called him"Jimmy Huffa," which works with a Boston accent.
#2 Comment from lillapi
2/1/07 3:09 PM | Permalink

Actually, kids drink soap because it contains GBL, a substance that is turned into GHB by our bodies. One of the senior doctors at a hospital where a 14 year old girl came in with soap poisoning says that he's seen it several times, but that people only tend to drink soap once. Gives me some hope for the future.

Therese Norén
#1 Comment from dpoem
2/1/07 10:24 AM | Permalink

Meh... I'm not big into the anti-bacterial buzz. So, I'll stick with my Sterno.

-Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/

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In Prison, You're Not Supposed to Drink the Soap Either