Gloves and frozen sections

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From:"Anatech Ltd." <anatech@net-link.net> (by way of histonet)
To:histonet <histonet@magicnet.net>
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In the United States, all unfixed human tissue, as well as certain animal
tissue, is considered potentially biohazardous.  Under OSHA's Bloodborne
Pathogen Standard, gloves must be worn when handling such tissue if
engineering controls and work practice controls fail to eliminate
occupational exposure.  Universal precautions must be practiced at all
times under these circumstances.

A HEPA filter (not surgical mask) is essential for cryosectioning unfixed
TB-infected tissue if there is any chance for inhalation exposure of
aeosolized particles.

These are not my opinions, it is U.S. law.

A rather complete discussion of this topic, and a detailed examination of
the Standard, is presented in "Hazardous Materials in the Histopathology
Laboratory" (Dapson & Dapson, 1995, 3rd edition, ANATECH LTD.).

Dick

Richard W. Dapson, Ph.D.
ANATECH LTD.
1020 Harts Lake Road
Battle Creek, MI  49015
800-262-8324 or 616-964-6450
Fax 616-964-8084
E-mail anatech@net-link.net
http://www.net-link.net/anatech




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