Fellow Boneheads,

I received a panic call from a lab in Utah who has spines in different
stages of MMA infiltration and embedding.  Again, Fisher Scientific has a
methyl methacrylate shortage and may not have any available UNTIL JULY.
This occurs every summer and previously I could never get an answer as to
why this occurs.  

I called Fisher Scientific and finally was able to talk to someone in
Manufacturing and told them of the labs dilemma and how it affects many of
us every summer.  I told them how critical this chemical is to the labs and
that specimens could be ruined.  It seems that Fisher produces a certain
amount every year, not realizing that currently they are down to 1 GALLON
in the whole U.S.  ACROS a sister company of Fisher Scientifc, has over 30
2.5L bottles and several 1L bottles available.

The gentleman I spoke to assured me that he would talk to Production and
try to possibly shorten the estimated delivery time for the MMA.  He also
said that he would tell Production that this occurs every summer and that
they would try and not let this happen again.

Maybe if more labs call Fisher Scientific, this will never occur again.  If
you want the phone number of the gentleman I spoke to please email me.

Regards,
Cathy


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GLP Compliant Laboratory

Cathy A. Mayton
Wasatch Histo Consultants, Inc.
www.wasatchhisto.com