RobS,
Mother Earth News lastest issue, June?, had a big article on the Poison oak,ivy's, sumac. Very interesting stuff and right on with many people's comments.
The article talks about some oil that plants have that sinks into your skin. Your body builds up antibodies to the chemical and attacks. This causes the itching and blistering. The article says washing the effected areas soon after exposre can work to removed the oil. Alcohol works as well if liberal amounts are used to wash off the oil. External use not Internal for you lushes out there! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif The ointments that are mentioned by others work as well. The author said that a heavy enough exposure can even get through gloves and clothes.
Well that is the short summary of the article it really had much more info. I, knock on wood, don't seem bothered by the poison plants. I certainly am in the woods enough to get it but I have never had a bad case or any case that I know of so I guess I'm lucky. The author said that only a small part of the population is not bothered buy the stuff. I would just rather stay away from the stuff in the first place..... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Hope this helps....
Dan McCarty