Going green in the lab often involves large-scale, institutional changes that the average researcher alone cannot bring about. If an institution's bureaucracy selects against better waste-processing systems, there isn't much a single scientist can do. But there's a lot that can be done on a bench-by-bench basis to reduce toxic exposure and lab waste. For a start, a handful of heavily used lab chemicals—employed in everything from cell culture to histology to gel assays—can be swapped out for less toxic alternatives, improving safety for both the scientist and the environment. The Scientist asked lab safety experts how to phase out some of the chemical "worst offenders." Here's what they said.
Lab job: A stain used to make DNA samples visible in gels. Ethidium bromide binds to DNA, then fluoresces under UV light.
Just how bad for your health is it? While ethidium bromide is a known mutagen, some debate whether ...
