[Ketman]

Originally posted by Sticks
This is the reply I received

So a doctor and a health and safety advisor ok'd something whereby someone receives something akin to a chemical burn?

Whither that bit in the Hippocratic oath, I will do no harm

I missed something somewhere.

What you missed somewhere is your own lack of expertise. No one is likely to think you better qualified to judge the hazards of a task than a qualified doctor and a Health and Safety Adviser. A nettle sting is "akin to a chemical burn" only in the sense that it makes you go "ouch!". Unlike a chemical burn it isn't a potentially disfiguring thing, and needs no treatment other than a little ointment. After an hour or so it stops stinging, and the visible rash will have gone by the next day. It's harmless.