Re: glutaraldehyde

Hi all,

Just a word of caution.

As a professional microscopist, I use glutaraldehyde on a regular basis.
It's odor is different, but every bit as pungent as formalin, and all
the same precautions should be taken.

I strongly suspect that the lack of information on some of the health
issues mentioned in the datasheet in the link below is due to the
limited use of this chemical (at least compared with formalin).
Glutaraldehyde is a cross-linking substance, and I for one will treat it
as a possible carcinogenic substance, regardless of missing entries in
the safety sheet. Note that it says "no info available"!

I take all the same precautions with glutaraldehyde as with formalin,
and I would strongly recommend you all to do the same. Even with
formalin/ formaldehyde, there is not totally conclusive evidence that
it's carcinogenic. This is not to say that it isn't, but it shows that
these things are *very* hard to document. Please don't relax safety and
end up being on the wrong side of the statistics! Use gloves and fume hoods!

Best regards,

Tom Einar Andersen

Gordon J. Holtslander wrote:

> Its used in microscopy as a tissue fixative. Check microscopy suppliers,
> like pelco for example:
>
> http://www.pelcoint.com/chemical_html/chem1.htm
>
> For others considering using glutaraldehyde a good health & safety
> outline:
>
> http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/glutaraldehyde/health_glu.html
>
> (one will likely have to paste this long multiline URL together for it to
> work properly)
>
> Gord
>
Received on Tue Mar 16 17:18:29 2004