Hi Sharron,
  I had a similar situation several years ago.  I discarded the oldest
ones where the strips had turned brown.  The bottles where the strips
were still amber colored, I filled with absolute ethanol and I'm storing
them that way.  So far, no problems.  I did have to refigure how to make
up the embedding solutions.  If you don't want the strips you can send
them my way.. :)  they are terribly expensive.   

Sarah Jones HT(ASCP)
Dept. of Vet. Anatomy & Public Health
Histology Lab
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4458
phone: 979-845-3177
fax:  979-458-3499
email: sjones@cvm.tamu.edu

>>> Sharron Ladd  05/20/03 07:10AM >>>
Dear Histonet,
I have inherited several jars of parlodion strips. They are not in
their 
original container so I don't know who the manufacturer is? They are
dry 
strips in glass jars with the lids screwed on tight. I know this is 
nitrocellulose and it is (or is similar to celloidin). I read the MSDS

for parlodion and it says: "Presents an unusually severe fire hazard; 
when dry, ignites readly and burns explosively. Should never be kept
for 
any appreciable time in any dry fibrous state. Unstabilized product 
decomposes generally at relatively low temperature, with evolution of 
copious volumes of toxic and flammable gases..."

Hmmm....I would imagine 10 to 20 years would count as an "appreciable 
(storage) time"...

I talked to our hazardous waste dept. and they said if I don't need it

then I shouldn't keep it. I would send it off to hazardous waste EXCEPT

when I was in Long Beach several people were talking about how
expensive 
celloidin is and if they could afford it they would use it. I feel 
guilty just throwing it away!

Is it really expensive? Am I storing it wrong? Should I dispose of it?

Thanks,
Sharron Ladd
University of South Florida