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Show Fight Hot Poppers With Gloves On The 'annual ritual of preparing chiles or hot peppers is again resulting in painful burns because of the improper handling of the spicy fruits, according to the Intermountain Regional Poison Control Center. "THE BEST way to avoid exposure to capsicum the major irritant in nearly all peppers is wearing rubber gloves," says Dr. Brent R. Ekins, poison information specialist at University of Utah Medical Center. "And remember to keep your gloved hands away from your faces and eyes." Capsicum usually causes skin to become red and painful, pain-ful, with symptoms lasting up to a day. DR. EKINS says the painful resins can be removed by washing thoroughly with alcohol, al-cohol, acetone or ether. If the eyes are exposed, flush them with large volumes of water. There are many varieties of peppers that can cause problems more than 140 in Mexico alone, according to Dr. Ekins. Smaller varieties are the hottest. The hotness is concentrated in the interior veins near the center of the pepper. CONTRARY to DODular belief, seeds are not the hottest hot-test part of the plant, according accord-ing to Dr. Ekins. Seeds only seem hot because thev are close to the interior veins of the pepper. To find out more about capsicum burns, call the Poison Control Center at 581-2151 or (Outside the Salt Lake area) 800-662-4225. |