[Histonet] Chemical expiration dates

[Tindall, Randy D.]

Hi,

I have been trying to find out how other labs handle the problem of
assigning expiration dates to chemicals used in tissue processing,
embedding, etc.  It was suggested to me that this list may be a good
place to ask, since histologists deal with this problem frequently.

We sometimes assist in research which must comply with certification
standards and this involves the REQUIREMENT that all chemicals used be
labeled with expiration dates.  I haven't been able so far to find any
agreed upon standards for how this should be done, at least in the EM
world, so it seems that each lab does this arbitrarily.  I understand
the reasons for this, since there are so many variables involved in
handling, storing, etc., of chemicals, but this doesn't change the fact
we still must assign dates to our reagents, meaningful or not.

So my question is, how is this problem handled by the histology
community?  Is there any consensus out there?  If not, would it be
valuable to try to establish a set of standards that could be generally
agreed upon and referred to, difficult as that might be?

This is my first posting to this list, so I hope I haven't asked
something that's been exhaustively dealt with before.  Chalk it up to a
case of the newbies if I did, and I'll do better next time!

Thanks!

Randy

Randy Tindall
EM Specialist
Electron Microscopy Core Facility---We Do Small Well!
W122 Veterinary Medicine
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
Tel: (573) 882-8304
Fax: (573) 884-5414
Email: tindallr <@t> missouri.edu
Web: http://www.biotech.missouri.edu/emc/