i am writing because me and my friend both
work in a medical lab for the summer. And
two weeks ago, we were dealing with
ethidium bromide, and long story short, my
idotic friend ingested ethidium bromide
along with food. I got really worried and
told him to get a check up but he keeps
saying that there are no harmful effects
on human because they didn't prove it so.
I wish I could force my friend to a
doctor, but he keeps telling me that it's
not that bad(not as bad as people talk
about it). Last I checked, ethidium
bromide is very mutagenic right? It can
cause oesophagal and stomach cancers no
and then metastize? If it's taken in
through ingestion, can it not get into the
lymphatic system and as such cause some
real bad problems? I just want to know to
be sure that he's not doing anything
stupid by not going to a doctor.
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kashishian
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 6
Yes Ethidium Bromide Is Mutagenic! Posted: 10-21-06 14:03pm
Hello kelly,
as you know, ethidium bromide is a
fluorescent dye that intercalates into dna
(that is why you are able to use ethidium
bromide to visualize dna). Ethidium
bromide is mutagenic in bacteria, and
possibly animal cells.
There have been many cases of people
accidentally being exposed to ethidium
bromide without dire consequenses. The
thing is, if your friend was to go and see
a doctor right away then maybe they would
have given him something at the time, but
in terms of going now to check if he has
cancer I do not know if that will be
productive. Cancers have a long latency
period and often require more than one hit
to develop. It is likely that your friend
will walk away unscathed, but please be
careful in the future!
Why did your friend ingest ethidium
bromide!?! Was he/she eating in the lab,
did he/she run a gel and then have lunch
without washing their hands? What sort of
a quantity are we talking about?
