The effect of three alcohols as representative of ointment and cream components on the radiation sensitivity of anoxicBacillus pumilusspores was determined in order to understand the radiation-induced inactivation of spores when suspended in non-aqueous milieux.Bacillus pumilusspores mounted on aluminium silicate powder were suspended in the appropriate alcohol, deoxygenated and60Co gamma-irradiated. Responses ranged between that for buffered suspensions alone to approximately twice that value. Concentrations of the alcohols in buffer, below their solubility limits, did not produce responses significantly different from that characteristic of anoxic buffer alone.