Risk of injury from passive exposure to burning fentanyl is ‘extremely low’

Police found several used strips of foil with burnt residue streaks and the remnants of a blue pill suspected to contain fentanyl, like this found in Old Town on Wed., April 27, 2022. Public health experts say passers-by have little to worry about when it comes to passive exposure to fentanyl. Powdered fentanyl can't be absorbed through skin, said Dr. Rob Hendrickson, medical director of the Oregon Poison Center and professor of emergency medicine at the OHSU School of Medicine.
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Health experts want the public to know the risk of injury from inhaling second-hand smoke from vaporized fentanyl is extremely low.

The advisory follows a Jan. 18 report that a Yamhill County sheriff’s deputy exhibited symptoms of a possible overdose after encountering fumes from what may have been counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl in a bathroom at Willamina Middle School. The deputy visited the school on a separate case and went into the bathroom at the request of a staff member who smelled something suspicious, the sheriff’s office wrote in a press release.

The deputy reported feeling tightness in the chest, tingling in the fingers and a “sensation of floating,” the press release said.

Dr. Rob Hendrickson, medical director of the Oregon Poison Center and professor of emergency medicine at the OHSU School of Medicine, said this week he couldn’t comment on the case because he didn’t have enough information about what happened, but noted that the risk of intoxication from passive exposure to smoke from burning fentanyl was “extremely low.”

Such an exposure wouldn’t concern him because it would be diluted by the air even from just a foot away. “The farther away, the more diluted it gets,” he said.

Powdered fentanyl cannot be absorbed through the skin, he said. So if a person touches a pill, the best advice is to wash up.

It’s not clear what caused the deputy’s symptoms. Capt. Sam Elliott of the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office said this week that the deputy returned to the hospital on Jan. 19 to sign paperwork allowing the sheriff’s office to release results of a blood test. The deputy learned then the hospital had thrown out the deputy’s blood sample untested, Elliot said Wednesday.

It’s also not clear what the substance was in the Willamina school bathroom. The Oregon State Police crime lab will test it, Elliott said, and the sheriff’s office will then share the results. As of Thursday, those results weren’t available.

Hendrickson urged people not to let fear stop them from helping someone who may be overdosing on fentanyl. If the person likely used opioids and is unconscious, it is safe for bystanders to administer naloxone. “If someone is in need, don’t hesitate,” he said.

This summer, the Oregon Health Authority found that fentanyl overdose deaths increased from 71 in 2019 to 509 in 2021.

— Beth Slovic; bslovic@oregonian.com; 503-221-8551

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