RE: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia
Picric acid bound to collagen is not an explosion hazard. Even if it were, the surrounding paraffin wax would cushion the picric acid to the point of making it shockproof. Most of the picric acid in a fixative ends up in the hazmat bottle rather than in the tissue. Thus even putting 50 or so blocks of tissue fixed in picric acid into a hot fire would create less blast than a hearing aid battery. Bulk picric acid, where there is no moderator between the crystals, is another story. - Allen A. Smith, Ph.D. Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine -Original Message- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Tyrone Genade Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 2:30 PM To: histonet Subject: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia Hello, I am moving to the USA from sunny South Africa. I would like to bring my wax blocks with me but the fish inside them were fixed with Bouin's fluid. I'm worried the picric acid could draw the wrong sort of attention. Courier companies and US Customs (which never got back to me) haven't been able to give me an answer if they are safe to travel. The blocks have sat under my lab bench for 4 years without blowing up so I guess they are perfectly safe. Anyone have an opinion on the issues or some advice on an expert (at US customs?) to contact? I would probably ship them by surface post as it just more cost effective. Thanks Tyrone Genade PhD Department of Human Biology University of Cape Town ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
Re: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia
Ship them as you would any biological test samples. No problems here. Sent from my iPhone On Jun 4, 2013, at 5:52 AM, Smith, Allen asm...@mail.barry.edu wrote: Picric acid bound to collagen is not an explosion hazard. Even if it were, the surrounding paraffin wax would cushion the picric acid to the point of making it shockproof. Most of the picric acid in a fixative ends up in the hazmat bottle rather than in the tissue. Thus even putting 50 or so blocks of tissue fixed in picric acid into a hot fire would create less blast than a hearing aid battery. Bulk picric acid, where there is no moderator between the crystals, is another story. - Allen A. Smith, Ph.D. Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine -Original Message- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Tyrone Genade Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 2:30 PM To: histonet Subject: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia Hello, I am moving to the USA from sunny South Africa. I would like to bring my wax blocks with me but the fish inside them were fixed with Bouin's fluid. I'm worried the picric acid could draw the wrong sort of attention. Courier companies and US Customs (which never got back to me) haven't been able to give me an answer if they are safe to travel. The blocks have sat under my lab bench for 4 years without blowing up so I guess they are perfectly safe. Anyone have an opinion on the issues or some advice on an expert (at US customs?) to contact? I would probably ship them by surface post as it just more cost effective. Thanks Tyrone Genade PhD Department of Human Biology University of Cape Town ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
[Histonet] picric acid paranoia
Hello, I am moving to the USA from sunny South Africa. I would like to bring my wax blocks with me but the fish inside them were fixed with Bouin's fluid. I'm worried the picric acid could draw the wrong sort of attention. Courier companies and US Customs (which never got back to me) haven't been able to give me an answer if they are safe to travel. The blocks have sat under my lab bench for 4 years without blowing up so I guess they are perfectly safe. Anyone have an opinion on the issues or some advice on an expert (at US customs?) to contact? I would probably ship them by surface post as it just more cost effective. Thanks Tyrone Genade PhD Department of Human Biology University of Cape Town ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
Re: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia
I don't know what the US regulations for importing paraffin blocks are, but Bouin fixed and paraffin processed tissues are perfectly safe. It is picric acid and its simple salts which are dangerous when dried. Since your tissues went through alcohol during processing, any free picric acid will have been removed and only that attached to the proteins remains. In fact, the paraffin wax itself is likely more of a hazard since it is inflammable. I suspect they could be safely shipped by mail, with appropriate declarations. Bryan Llewellyn Tyrone Genade wrote: Hello, I am moving to the USA from sunny South Africa. I would like to bring my wax blocks with me but the fish inside them were fixed with Bouin's fluid. I'm worried the picric acid could draw the wrong sort of attention. Courier companies and US Customs (which never got back to me) haven't been able to give me an answer if they are safe to travel. The blocks have sat under my lab bench for 4 years without blowing up so I guess they are perfectly safe. Anyone have an opinion on the issues or some advice on an expert (at US customs?) to contact? I would probably ship them by surface post as it just more cost effective. Thanks Tyrone Genade PhD Department of Human Biology University of Cape Town ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
RE: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia
I agree with Bryan, the only dangerous form is anhydrous powder. I'm thinking they might be more interested in having you declare these blocks are not infectious... Tim Morken Supervisor, Electron Microscopy/Neuromuscular Special Studies Department of Pathology UC San Francisco Medical Center -Original Message- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Bryan Llewellyn Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 12:05 PM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: Re: [Histonet] picric acid paranoia I don't know what the US regulations for importing paraffin blocks are, but Bouin fixed and paraffin processed tissues are perfectly safe. It is picric acid and its simple salts which are dangerous when dried. Since your tissues went through alcohol during processing, any free picric acid will have been removed and only that attached to the proteins remains. In fact, the paraffin wax itself is likely more of a hazard since it is inflammable. I suspect they could be safely shipped by mail, with appropriate declarations. Bryan Llewellyn Tyrone Genade wrote: Hello, I am moving to the USA from sunny South Africa. I would like to bring my wax blocks with me but the fish inside them were fixed with Bouin's fluid. I'm worried the picric acid could draw the wrong sort of attention. Courier companies and US Customs (which never got back to me) haven't been able to give me an answer if they are safe to travel. The blocks have sat under my lab bench for 4 years without blowing up so I guess they are perfectly safe. Anyone have an opinion on the issues or some advice on an expert (at US customs?) to contact? I would probably ship them by surface post as it just more cost effective. Thanks Tyrone Genade PhD Department of Human Biology University of Cape Town ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
