At 02:19 PM 12/18/02 -0800, Deborah Harrell wrote:
--- Jon Gabriel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Deborah Harrell wrote: > > > > > Bonus points for those who come up with > *legitimate* instances of alcohol or cocaine use that > promotes > > > survival (there are several, but they don't > involve addiction either). > Re: alcohol > > I've also seen a few B movies where the town drunk > escaped being poisoned by > something in the drinking water. >If the town drunk drinks _methanol_, thus risking blindness and death,
Though it saved the guy from _The Andromeda Strain_ . . .
the ER will ply him with whiskey or similar spirits to avert Darwinian fate (the VA pharmacy used to stock "Everclear" for such situations).
IIRC, the same treatment is used in the case of someone who has consumed ethylene glycol antifreeze: the liver tries to break both down using the same process, but in the case of ethylene glycol one of the products is (IIRC) formaldehyde, which is of course toxic, so administration of a large dose of EtOH ties up those receptors processing the EtOH instead of the ethylene glycol.
--Ronn! :)
I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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