Removal of Ethidium Bromide - Disposal of Ethidium Bromide

[kiki06]

How can one remove Ethidium Bromide? Is there an easy way to clean it up?

Also how does one dispose of ethidium bromide?

thanks

Kiki

[aftabac]

Hi Kiki
very good question. In most of the laboratories ethidium bromide is just put into the sink without any consideration, and we also know that it is strong mutagenic agent that can lead to many consequencies.
following is very good link regarding ethidium bromide disposal,
i hope it will be informative for all

[Only registered users see links. ]

regards
aftab

[aftabac]

Hey Kiki
there is another protocol for ethidium bromide removal given below
All solutions containing ethidium bromide must be decontaminated before being discarded.

1. Add 100 mg activated charcoal/ ml dye solution.

2. Let stand at least 1 hour with occasional stirring.

3. Filter through Whatman No.1 filter paper.

4. Pour the clear filtrate into the sink.

5. Place the filter paper containing the dye/charcoal mixture into the biohazard waste.


Regards
Aftab

[kiki06]

Thank you Aftab

[MARGARITA MARTINEZ]

Aftab .. Will Use Solution Of Activated Charcoal For Descontaminated Surface ???

Thank You

Wait For You Reply

Magui

[aftabac]

Well for surfaces, if there is spill of ethidium bromide solution, then i think first you should clear it with ethanol, and then that solution must be treated in a way i have given above to remove ethidium bromide, as otherwise it will be hard to use activated charcoal to clean the ethidium bromide conteminated surfaces.
but there is need of some more comments

best regards
aftab

[MARGARITA MARTINEZ]

Originally Posted by aftabac

Well for surfaces, if there is spill of ethidium bromide solution, then i think first you should clear it with ethanol, and then that solution must be treated in a way i have given above to remove ethidium bromide, as otherwise it will be hard to use activated charcoal to clean the ethidium bromide conteminated surfaces.
but there is need of some more comments

best regards
aftab

Aftab

Thank you for reply

Nice day for you

Margarita

[aftabac]

Thanks a lot Margarita
you are most welcome for discussion

best of luck for your reseach work

best regards
aftab ahmad

[megha]

hi,
i m a ph. d. student, working in the field of plant biotechnology and plant tissue culture..
want to be a part of these discussions

megha
INDIA

[Bhappy]

Originally Posted by kiki06

How can one remove Ethidium Bromide? Is there an easy way to clean it up?

Also how does one dispose of ethidium bromide?

thanks

Kiki

Ethidium bromide not a carcinogen in first place....Here i passing you a article which i read long back"

"These in vitro tests, which comprise the entire body of evidence upon which the ethidium bromide hysteria is built, don’t provide any evidence that ethidium bromide can exert a genotoxic effect in anything more complicated than a single cell or an unprotected embryo. In fact there is no direct evidence implicating ethidium bromide as a carcinogen in any animal.

For many years, ethidium bromide has been routinely administered for the treatment of African Sleeping Sickness in cattle. For this purpose, ethidium bromide is administered via subcutaneous or intramuscular injection with no reported increase in incidence of tumor formation or birth defects in the treated cattle. This suggests that ethidium bromide is far less genotoxic to animal systems than is presumed from the in vitro data.

The recommended, apparently non-toxic, dose of ethidium bromide is 1mg/kg of body weight in cattle. In comparison to this, the standard concentration used in molecular biology (around 1 microgram/litre), is low. Rosie Redfield puts it into perspective:

A 50kg researcher would need to drink 50,000 liters of gel-staining solution to get even the non-toxic dose used in cattle.

From this, the risks posed to a scientist handling a very weak solution of ethidium bromide, with a gloved hand (remember the cattle are injected with the stuff) are put into perspective.

A real concern is that the irrational and ill-informed fear of ethidium bromide drives us to solutions that are more dangerous than ethidium bromide itself.