I am well aware of how hazardous giant hogweed is, before anybody
posts trivial responses to this.

A friend of mine made himself a very nice musical instrument
(a harmonic whistle resembling a Hungarian tilinko) from part
of a giant hogweed stem. His had been detoxified - he lives
on the shore of the Forth, and the stem was washed up after
sloshing around in the sea, maybe for weeks (the Forth has
strong and chaotic tides). Cutting, polishing, painting and
playing it produced no adverse reactions, so the toxin had
all gone after its saline soak and subsequent drying.

I would like to try the same, using an intact stem to make a
longer, deeper instrument. There's plenty of giant hogweed
growing around here, but I don't have a private ocean to dunk
it in. Any ideas on how to detoxify the stuff at home? I was
thinking of simply standing the stems in a bucket of saline or
alcohol, but maybe there's some specific chemical agent that
will deactivate furanocoumarin?

And to repeat, yes I know I'm talking about handling something
as hazardous as a chemical warfare agent. I'm thinking Tyvek
overalls, rubber gloves and a full-face mask when harvesting it
(using a small handsaw which will be immediately disposed of
along with the clothing).

[ crossposted - pity there isn't a Usenet toxicology
newsgroup, that would have been more appropriate ]

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
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