For practically a decade, a persistent fable has influenced public notion and information protection of the opioid overdose disaster: the concept which you can get sick and even die from merely touching or being close to fentanyl. However there isn’t a sturdy proof for this declare, and many to argue towards it.
Scroll by fentanyl-related headlines, notably these involving legislation enforcement, and you will see a sample emerge quickly sufficient: first responders, law enforcement officials, or bystanders experiencing a wide range of signs quickly after being uncovered to some quantity of fentanyl.
An concept that will not go away
These kinds of tales, together with the particular declare from some legislation enforcement officers that “fentanyl can kill you simply by touching it,” appear to have first unfold extensively round 2016The thought picked up additional legitimacy that 12 months after the Drug Enforcement Company launched a video, in addition to an accompanying press launch, warning in regards to the risks of fentanyl publicity by way of the pores and skin (each might have been briefly taken downhowever up to date variations are nonetheless up immediately).
Media shops do now appear much less doubtless to uncritically parrot the concept that informal publicity to fentanyl will be lethal than they did 5 years in the pastwhen Gizmodo first coated this problem. Particular person public well being businesses and different teams have additionally begun to extra overtly counter the idea. However the fable stays alive and powerful amongst some legislation enforcement businesses and even lawmakerswith not less than three states—Florida, West Virginia, Tennessee—at the moment weighing payments that might enable prosecutors to press felony expenses towards folks accused of exposing first responders to fentanyl and related opioids.
‘Extraordinarily low threat’ to first responders
It is comprehensible why folks is likely to be afraid of getting near fentanyl. It and different artificial opioids like carfentanil are certainly stronger than naturally derived opioids like heroin or morphine. So the chance of a deadly overdose from typical consumption is extra doubtless. Over the previous decade, the higher availability and use (usually unintentional) of illicit fentanyl has pushed a big surge in deaths, with 2023 being the third 12 months in a row of over 100,000 documented deadly overdoses in america.
However primarily based on what we learn about these medicine, there simply does not look like a grave hazard from merely touching or being round fentanyl. Even in its powdered type, the drug is not absorbed rapidly by the pores and skin, in accordance with knowledgeable toxicologists. Medical fentanyl will be delivered by way of dermal patch, however these doses are slowly absorbed over hours to days.
In 2017, the American School of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) and American Academy of Medical Toxicology (AACT) launched a joint place assertion to counter the burgeoning unfold of fentanyl-related misinformation. Primarily based on their evaluation of the obtainable proof, the teams concluded that the “threat of clinically important publicity to emergency responders is extraordinarily low.”
There are some potential eventualities wherein fentanyl may very well be harmful to passersby. If somebody touched fentanyl powder, then tried to scrub it off with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, as an illustration, the alcohol really might enhance the pores and skin’s capacity to soak up the drug. Unintentional introduction of fentanyl into the mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth, similar to by touching it after which touching one’s eyes, might probably trigger sufficient publicity to end in sickness. And it is theoretically attainable for sufficient fentanyl powder to change into aerosolized and pose a hazard simply by inhaling the identical space. Nonetheless, this might require uncommon circumstances, similar to being in a really windy room with a big quantity of fentanyl current.
sensible precautions
The ACMT, AACT, and different teams have created pragmatic pointers for first responders who come throughout fentanyl to additional reduce their threat. These embrace sporting a pair of disposable non-latex gloves for low threat conditions and donning a masks for larger threat environments, together with advising folks to solely use cleaning soap and water to scrub off any fentanyl that ends on pores and skin.
None of that is to say that legislation enforcement officers and others uncovered to fentanyl aren’t experiencing signs in consequence. However many signs generally reported throughout these accounts, similar to a racing heartbeat, dizzinessor feeling sweatydo not matches of a typical opioid overdose, which incorporates slowed respiration, blue pores and skin, and shrunken pupils. So not less than a few of the time, these circumstances usually tend to be a manifestation of (comprehensible) anxiousness or worry than fentanyl-related,
Regardless of rising skepticism from media and well being businesses, the parable that informal fentanyl publicity is lethal persists amongst some legislation enforcement and lawmakers, with a number of states contemplating associated felony expenses. Nevertheless it’s a seek for an answer to an issue that does not actually exist. And this fable solely distracts from the precise risks of fentanyl, whereas taking time and power from the efforts wanted to curtail America’s very actual overdose disaster.
