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Notice to Readers Nitrocellulose Paper Used in Western Blot Test -- Fire and Potential Explosion Hazard

Nitrocellulose paper is used in a variety of laboratory electrophoresis and gel-diffusion procedures, including the Western blot test. Nitrocellulose paper poses a well-recognized fire hazard and can be ignited at most ambient temperatures likely to be encountered in operating laboratories.

Additionally, nitrocellulose paper may be highly reactive and can detonate or explode when heated under the confinement conditions present in the closed chamber of a steam autoclave. Therefore, potentially infectious gels deposited on nitrocellulose paper should not be decontaminated by autoclaving. Instead, such materials should be decontaminated by immersing in a 10% aqueous solution of household laundry bleach for 30 minutes. Following removal from the bleach solution, nitrocellulose paper can be disposed of by incineration or burial in a sanitary landfill. Reported by Technical Consultation Activity, Laboratory Program Office, CDC.

Disclaimer   All MMWR HTML documents published before January 1993 are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.

**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.

Page converted: 08/05/98

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