Hi,
    It looks as if pathology may be a self perpetuating field. Before ignoring
safety labels and even the foul odor of these chemicals, please for your
own sake
read an MSDS.
    A fume hood can be made with some plexiglass and epoxy resins to glue it
together, (be careful these can be as bad as the formalin itself). A hole
cut in
the back can accommodate a piece of flexible tubing (not unlike that tube that
connects most clothes dryers to the outside). This can be either attached to
current ventilation systems or attached to a fan leading outside. Many hospital
engineering departments are able to do something like this cheaply, or
certainly
a contractor.
    Many scientific supply companies sell velocimeters which can be used to
find
out if the system has enough air flow. These are usually inexpensive. Or you
could use the filter paper test ... hold a piece of filter paper near the
opening
of the vent and it should pull lightly on the edge of the paper.
Vive le SAFETY
Amos Brooks
(Healthy Tech Extrordanaire)


RSRICHMOND@aol.com wrote:

> Mike Kirby in Johannesburg asks:
>
> >>Does anyone have any plans or can make recommendations with regards to a
>
> suitable formalin fume extraction system for our "gross sectioning bench"? I
>
> am sure that there are commercial systems available, but they would be
>
> extremely expensive in this neck of the woods, so what we are looking for is
>
> a "in house" D.I.Y system.<<
>
> Real men choke on the fumes while they gross! Fume extraction systems? We
> don't have no sissy fume extraction systems!
>
> The answer to this question depends very much on your local regulatory
> agencies. In the USA we have federal regulations concerning formaldehyde
> fumes, but many states - including the states I practice in - do not enforce
> them.
>
> Most of the small rural hospitals and "little histology labs on the prairie
> [or is that veldt?]" that I practice in have nothing at all, or nothing but a
> fan so noisy you can't dictate with it running.
>
> In such a circumstance, your best strategy is careful handling of
> formaldehyde so as to expose as little of it as possible. And an electric fan
> purchased at your nearest department store.
>
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> (still surviving the fumes at age sixty)
> Knoxville, Tennessee USA