DCHAS-L Archives, Apr 07 2016 - Re: [DCHAS-L] Mouse liver microsomes in the chemistry lab

Ralph-

The BBP standard does not apply if the cells are not human (experimental animals are exempt if not deliberately infected with the HIV virus). I am guessing the mouse liver microsomes are not from mice deliberately infected with HIV--that'd be unusual for a chemist to work with--but I don't know where they're coming from....

SDS's for commercially prepared biological materials generally communicate the chemical hazards (are the tissues in formalin? are they in 0.1% sodium azide solution in RNAse-free water?) and are not designed to communicate biohazards. There are Canadian SDS's for infectious materials but they do not cover animal cells--which often are not known to be infectious (think of all the dog hair, slobber, etc many of us deal with daily).

There are excellent resources for biosafety practices, starting with the CDC BMBL--I'll put the link at the bottom. I don't know exactly what your faculty member is working with--are these commercially obtained or are they from a colleague doing toxicological studies,etc-- but she/he may want to talk with colleagues in your biology dept. From time to time I have posted questions to the ABSA biosafety listserv and have phoned/emailed the BSO (Biological Safety Officer) at a larger institution. They have always been helpful and patient. In addition, you may want to talk with Keene State's IACUC Chair--they can direct you/your faculty member to some appropriate resources.

BTW, the belief of less risky material when 'even if the [human] organelles come certified as free of viruses, etc' is, in many BSO opinions (and mine too) a lot of bunk. You can't economically test for all bloodborne diseases (think ZIka, West Nile virus) and that is what the OSHA BBP standard requires IF you are going to consider the biological material exempt from the standard. Not just checking for HIV and HepB (not to mention false negatives). It's great to have some negative test results--I wouldn't want someone who's not worked at BSL2 to suddenly work with HIV+ materials--but your safest course is to follow the BBP Universal Precautions no matter what the test results say..

Here's the link to the BMBL--oh, and you'll notice that safety glasses for BSL1 or BSL2 are required only sometimes: "Wear protective eyewear when conducting procedures that have the potential to create splashes of microorganisms or other hazardous materials..." Welcome to a Brave New World--they're gearing up for a new edition and I'm going to try to push for a greater emphasis on safety eyewear...

Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories

Good luck, let me know if you want anymore information about the biosafety listserv...

best,

Margaret

On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 3:07 PM, Stuart, Ralph <Ralph.Stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu> wrote:

A faculty member asks me this question:
===
I had spoken with you earlier about wanting to do some work with liver microsomes. We are opting to work with mouse liver microsomes, since it would reason that they are safer than working with human liver microsomes (even if the organelles come certified as free of viruses, etc). However, I find little information about the safety of mouse liver microsomes... do you had any suggestions on where to find such information?
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The SDSs I find for this product pretty much say "no data available" across the board; I wonder if other Chemical Hygiene Officers have addressed this question? This is another good example of biosafety reaching into the chemical lab and am interested to know whether the group this process is better treated according to Prudent Practices or BMBL safety processes.

Thanks for any information on this.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Chemical Hygiene Officer
Keene State College

ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu

Margaret A. Rakas, Ph.D.
Manager, Inventory & Regulatory Affairs
Clark Science Center
413-585-3877 (p)

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