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Show Plants often cause allergies Plants may radiate beauty in a pot or garden, but a Stanford University dermatologist says there is nothing attractive about the itchy, scaly, blistering allergic rashes plants can cause some people. Dr. David Harris, Clinical professor pro-fessor of dermatology, says that recent re-cent data suggest that 30 percent of florists suffer from some form of plant allergy. And for professional or amateur gardeners, "wearing gloves often won't solve the problem. prob-lem. Rash-causing chemicals can easily flow through the rubber or cloth gloves, especially when they are wet. ' Particularly potent allergies, similar to the rash and irritation resulting from poison ivy, are produced pro-duced by the Peruvian lily, which has become enormously popular in florist shops in recent years. An old standby of home gardeners and floral customers, the chrysanthemum, chrysan-themum, is equally toxic to some people, the dermatologist says. Harris said a skin test is available to test for the rash-producing com ponent of Peruvian lily and chrysanthemum, chrysan-themum, "and we can administer the test through gloves to sec if they are offering protection." Flower allergies will clear up in a few weeks wiuhout treatment, but Harris says prescription salves are available to do that job faster. Gardeners, professional or amateur, ama-teur, who must come in contact with a plant that gives them a rash should ensure that their gloves are thick. Second, since that won't offer full protection, the plant handler should try to avoid contact with sapdon't break off leaves or stems. Also, don ' t touch a kn ife or sc issors which has come into contact with the plant, since the chemical is easily eas-ily transferable, Harris notes. |