<blockquote>
i read your recent "Open Source and the Obligation to Recycle" article and noticed that you lost the only useful poison oak remedy you've ever found because the company wouldn't release the formula.

well my dad (a chemical physicist) discovered a poison sumac allergy quite suddenly one day about 15 years ago, after manually uprooting a sumac tree in our yard. he went to the library and in an old book found what is the only useful remedy we've ever come across:

5% ferric chloride (FeCl3) by weight


95% half-and-half isopropyl alcohol/distilled water base.

so 5g FeCl3 to 95g IPA/dH2O is about right. it should have a yellow-orange color. apply with a cotton ball to areas affected with poison ivy/oak/sumac two or three times a day and the itchy spots go away in short order.

i have no idea if this is the same stuff you were talking about, but at least in my experience it is really effective, and certainly miles ahead of calamine lotion or cortisone cream.

hope this helps!
</blockquote>
Haven't tried this yet, but I sure will if needed. Thanks.