[Polleke]

Dear all,

Does ethidium bromide break down when subjected to sunlight? (or uvlight)
(I know someone who places his gels under the sunlight, let them sit there for a while and then the tosses the gels in the bin because the Etb is gone according to him.. )

I am asking this question because Etb is seen as hazardous, but if it breaks down under light, then why cant we just let it break down under light so its not hazardous anymore?
However it brings me to the following question: if it breaks down under light, does this mean that bad chemical compounds will enter the air?

[rjb]

Polleke,

EtBr does breakdown under U.V, sunlight etc. but I really wouldn't recommend it as a method of making your gels safe before disposal unless they're still going to be treated as hazardous waste... I don't know exactly what breakdown products are actually produced, but I do know that they give +ve Ames test results so would be classed as hazardous waste regardless. No idea if the compounds produced are likely to be a hazard to your air supply, I doubt it, but the whole process doesn't really seem worthwhile enough for you to bother risking it unless you're paying the disposal bills. You're never going to be thanked for saving a few dollars but you can be damn sure you're going to be the one fired/sued/imprisoned if there are ever any repercussions!

Out of curiosity, why not consider an alternative to EtBr? We're pretty much banned from using it in any application where there is an safer altenative product, regardless of cost!

Just my thoughts...

R

[Polleke]

Polleke,

EtBr does breakdown under U.V, sunlight etc. but I really wouldn't recommend it as a method of making your gels safe before disposal unless they're still going to be treated as hazardous waste... I don't know exactly what breakdown products are actually produced, but I do know that they give +ve Ames test results so would be classed as hazardous waste regardless. No idea if the compounds produced are likely to be a hazard to your air supply, I doubt it, but the whole process doesn't really seem worthwhile enough for you to bother risking it unless you're paying the disposal bills. You're never going to be thanked for saving a few dollars but you can be damn sure you're going to be the one fired/sued/imprisoned if there are ever any repercussions!

Out of curiosity, why not consider an alternative to EtBr? We're pretty much banned from using it in any application where there is an safer altenative product, regardless of cost!

Just my thoughts...

R

Do you have some extra information on why/how it breaksdown? A paper maybe or something like that?


I am not using this trick. A specialised company collects our gels to destroy them, but I heard about this "trick" being used by some people in other labs.
Some of them even trow the gel away in a regular trashcan!!!
(most however have still a company comming by to collect the gels)