The constitution of adhesives, and its relationship to solvent abuse

1 An adhesive, in general, must be a liquid at the time of application, so that the adherends are wetted out, but must then solidify to enable development of adequate bond strength. The use of volatile solvent is only one way in which the solid ingredients can be converted to a liquid for application. 2 Only those adhesives containing solvents are capable of providing the narcotic effect desired by the 'sniffer'. 3 Solvents used in adhesives include highly volatile hydrocarbons, esters, ketones and chlorinated hydrocarbons. 4 Commonly available domestic materials other than solvent-borne adhesives contain such solvents, and are hence capable of misuse by 'sniffers'. Often such materials are of greater potential harm to the mis-user. 5 Aversive additives in solvent-borne adhesives have been found ineffective and also deter the bona fide user. 6 Aqueous substitutes for existing popular and safely-used solvent-borne adhesives have not found sufficient favour with the domestic adhesive user as to enable the manufacturers to replace the solvent-borne type in the market place. 7 Removal of solvent-borne adhesives from the market would not of itself solve the problem of solvent abuse because of the other solvent sources available. The remedy lies in the removal of the causes of such social misbehaviour, rather than in treatment of the symptoms.