Would someone help me discuss what work can I do with laryngeal cancer cell hep2 - (May/07/2014 )
The main dangers with dry ice are making sure that you don't gas yourself and not sealing the container too tightly (explosion hazard) - If you are using a polystyrene container punch a small hole or two (10 ml pipette works well for this) in the lid, that will take care of the explosion risk. Gassing yourself can be prevented by making sure the container is in a separate compartment of the car (i.e. if you have a station wagon, it's all the same compartment, sedans will probably be OK), and that you keep the incoming air on fresh or have a window open. Similar to the advice for using gas cookers and heaters inside really.
Note also that if you have the container in the boot/trunk of the car, then you need to air it out before you go sticking your head in - inhaling large quantities of CO2 will very rapidly cause you to pass out and then you will be lying with your head inside a pool of CO2 (or on the ground having just hit your head on the car as you fell).
I would recommend shipping cell cultures frozen because you cannot control the environment once you place your package in the hands of the shipping company. Along with temperature fluctuations, non-frozen cell cultures can be subjected to pressure changes and other physical forces like shaking and dropping. Package the frozen culture with at least 5kg of Dry Ice. In a standard Styrofoam box, dry ice will sublimate at a rate of about 1.5kg per 24 hours. Most often, you can ship stuff to arrive next day, however there are at times delays that can occur such as inclement weather, and customs delays. The MOST important measure to take to avoid a delay is to make sure that your documentation is properly filled out. We receive dozens of dry-ice shipments every week, and of the few that are delayed, it is almost always due to incorrectly filled out documents. For a reference on how to ship biological substances and how to fill out documents - here is a guide:
I would disagree with bob1 about the dangers of shipping with dry ice - it is a bit of fear-mongering. You are not going to pass-out from CO2 if you have a box of dry ice in your car taking it to a courier. It sublimates too slowly on its own. You would have to open the box, dump in a bunch of water to really get it smoking, then stick your head in the box. FedEx planes and trucks move hundreds of dry-ice packages at once. The drivers are not wearing oxygen masks or driving with the window open. You do not have to poke holes in your Styrofoam box either. These boxes are made to transport dry-ice and are not air-tight. poking holes will only cause the dry-ice to sublimate faster. You only risk explosion if you put dry-ice in an air-tight container like a thermos or bottle.
Shipping samples internationally is quite easy. I can only speak to shipping samples to Canada - for us human samples do not require permits. Animal samples do, but this is automatically provided by the CFIA upon package arrival at customs.
I'm not fear mongering - the poking holes are what World couriers do for all dry ice shipments that i have received in the past 5 years. Note that I am in NZ, which is substantially further away than most places, so shipments normally take longer than 3 days to get here and require large amounts of dry ice. Also note that most courier trucks and planes have separate compartments where the driver sits, so there is no chance of them getting gassed anyway. Gassing in cars is rare, but if you were travelling long distance it can happen.
see: http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/0/0a16a5a31a11d81f86256f9400528023/$FILE/AC91-76.pdf