In article ,
paghat wrote:

Anyone with an allergy to poinsettias would also have an allergy to pencil
erasers. They would not have gotten this far in life not knowing they were
allergic to latex. And their allergy would have nothing whatsoever to do
with normal healthy reactions (rather non-reactions) to latex.


Pencil erasers and poinsettia sap are very different, and it is not
necessarily a latex allergy that causes the contact dermatitis (The
reverse is not true -- there are lots of people allergic to latex,
and few allergic to poinsettia sap). In fact, I know of no study
that has determined what compound is involved -- severe contact
dermatitis is so rare that it's a matter of case reports.

However, broad studies of poinsettia toxicity have been done,
and you are absolutely correct that the rate of bad reactions
verges on the idiosyncratic. For instance, see:

Krenzelok EP, Jacobsen TD, Aronis JM Poinsettia exposures have good
outcomes...just as we thought. Am J Emerg Med. 1996 Nov;14(7):671-4,

From the MEDLINE abstract:

The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is a much-maligned plant
which is thought by the public and some health professionals to be
extremely toxic. Despite pronouncements by public health officials
to the contrary, the poinsettia continues to be recognized as a
poisonous plant. To determine if there was any validity to the
toxicity claims, 849,575 plant exposures reported to the American
Association of Poison Control Centers were electronically analyzed.
Poinsettia exposures accounted for 22,793 cases and formed the
subset that was analyzed to critically evaluate the morbidity and
mortality associated with poinsettia exposures. There were no
fatalities among all poinsettia exposures and 98.9% were accidental
in nature, with 93.3% involving children. The majority of exposed
patients (96.1%) were not treated in a health care facility and
92.4% did not develop any toxicity related to their exposure to the
poinsettia. Most patients do not require any type of therapy and
can be treated without referral to a health care facility.


It's a little like the old joke

"Doc, it hurts when I do this"
"Then stop doing it."

There is no medical reason to be afraid of poinsettias. If one is given
to contact dermatitis something, one will find out quickly and avoid it.

My wife is severely allergic to poison ivy; I am not senstive at all -- yet.
Guess who gets sent out every year to clear the paths in the woods around
our place. If and when I become sensitive to poison ivy/oak, I will become
paranoid about avoiding it. Until then, I won't pay much attention.


billo