How to get rid of Ethidium Bromide? - (Dec/10/2005 )
My question is : Should I decontaminate my running buffer and gel before throwing them away?
usually the concentration of EtBr in those is low enough to dispose of normally.
Indeed concentrations of EtBr are quite low in buffers, in gels it depends on the method of staining you use, but both gels and buffers that have been contaminated should be collected in a special waste container.
Still no one really has a solid answer for this. Probably better to be safe than sorry. And I've never met anyone who got cancer in their hands from using EtBr anyway.
But, what could happen if someone accidentally touch directly EtBr, would be a skin cancer, a tumour?
Still no one really has a solid answer for this. Probably better to be safe than sorry. And I've never met anyone who got cancer in their hands from using EtBr anyway.
But, what could happen if someone accidentally touch directly EtBr, would be a skin cancer, a tumour?
is leaving a tray of EtBr open dangerous? does the EtBr easily diffuse into the surrounding air in some way?
Not really. If I recall correctly EtBr is only degraded at higher temperatures (>250C) and thus not at the temperature reached by boiling water.
I think working with safe conditions helps more than using sybr. As many of friends say it has poor resolution while comparing with EtBr. I am lucky because we have two different labs and in only one lab we use EtBr. We leave everything gloves, EtBr, imagining instrument, all chemicals used in gel preparation in this lab. If you don't have such facility, ı think you should be more careful to prevent EtBr contamination to spread whole lab. We also use EtOH in cleaning process however I a not sure about efficiency.
wow!!! tat was so informative!! i havent used EtBr before,been using sybrgreen all the time....the one using charcoal to eliminate EtBr is quite an interesting way! 
We are currently using EtBr in our lab and it seems that the administrator has no interest in its removal for another dye. Gloves, dirty pipet tips, gels etc.. are all disposed of in a designated container, but I feel as if there is contamination by touch at various points in the lab. We only use the liquid form - I belive the concentration is 1%. Is there need to worry about touching contaminated flasks etc? I know there is not much known about this in the first place, But would a heated gel be considered dangerous if less than 1ml came in contact with the skin?
Too bad that I found this forum just now after we had struggled so much with getting rid of EtBr in our lab. Oh, well At least I can share some knowledge with those who are planning on doing this in the nearest future. I am a Lab manager/SRA II at the University of California, San Francisco. What our EHS people recommend is to use regular household vinegar for decontamination. Don't use bleach as it has been proven to make EtBr even more cancerogenic. So, again, I would recommend soap water for decontaminating your bench, gel containers, and everything else that are not afraid of water. Then soak it in vinegar. For equipment/computers, use paper towels soaked in vinegar. Don't toss the used paper towels, vinegar, or water into the regular trash cans/down the drain. Use EHS guidelines for that. Of course you lab will smell pretty badly for a couple of days, but it will become much safer. Switch to GelRed or Sybr green after decontamination is complete.
Good luck!
vinegar = acetic acid , 1 of the composition of TAE buffer is acetic acid , this mean agarose gel run in TAE buffer is decontaminated by acetic acid in TAE buffer already?
No, it’s not. There is EtBr in the agarose gel and the TAE. But EtBr is not as dangerous as many people think, but of course you have to be careful.
By the way, I tried sybr and I saw it is more sensitive that EtBr. But what I didn’t like it is that Sybr is more expensive and you can’t add it to the gel. If do it. Same size DNA run different.
A wonderful decontaminant for EtBr (and many other) spills in the lab is simple isopropanol (on a rag). Unfortunately I cannot offer a reference for this method, but you can test its effectiveness yourself. Pour a solution containing ethidium on a white surface, and turn out the lights; grab your blacklight and examine the surface, as it will glow orange under UV radiation. Then clean with copious amounts of isopropanol, and reexamine with your blacklight.
While isopropanol removes the bulk of an ethidium spill, it is always a good idea to require students to wear gloves when using a gel-doc.
(What use is a gel-doc if it cannot photodocument EtBr-containing gels?)