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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] ether for anesthetizing fruit flies
Date: Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 9:50:31 PM
Author: ILPI Support <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM> 		Next by Date:
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2020 08:02:40 -0500
Author: DCHAS Membership Chair

From: Margaret Rakas <mrakas**At_Symbol_Here**SMITH.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] ether for anesthetizing fruit flies
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2020 22:41:15 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 7405B37C-96D4-48EF-AD20-BC50CB57BCC6**At_Symbol_Here**smith.edu

Monona-

I think this is a situation where the various federal agencies may have varying points of view, some of them quite in opposition to the other.  I also wonder if the EPA folks were aware of regulations promulgated by USDA and other agencies involved in animal research, and/or how the question was posed.

If you're killing flies, or rats, or garden slugs because they are pests- invading your home/office/workplace then yes I agree that a registered pesticide is what is legal and required.

But these fruit flies-or genetically modified rodents, or zebra fish used in research-are not being destroyed because they are pests- they are being euthanized for study.  The means of euthanasia must not only inflict minimal to no pain (generally), it must also not affect the property being studied, whether that's neural development, the effect of various viral vectors carrying gene modifying units, or whatever.  I can't imagine that a registered pesticide used expressly to euthanize animals for scientific research would be in compliance with  either requirement.  Moreover, if the institution received research funding from USDA or other related agencies, it would be in violation of federal animal welfare regulations.  

So- my two cents on the original question is, we use "fly nap" in a fume hood.   That's a combination of triethyamine, methanol and isopropyl alcohol-still flammable, maybe somewhat less so than ether,  but I may suggest to our folks they try triethylamine by itself or the device w/alka-seltzer tablets.  Ether just seems like more trouble than it's worth when there are less hazardous substances.

Good luck with this project (can you at least have them add a fume hood or 2 if they insist on sticking with diethyl ether?)
Margaret


Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 4, 2020, at 9:33 PM, Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**lists.princeton.edu> wrote:

=EF=BB=BF
oooow.  How interesting. The natural history museums also commonly use inert gases or chemicals that are oxygen scavengers for killing critters in containers. 

However,  we recently posed the issue of these practices to the EPA pest people, and found that as soon as you intend to kill a critter, you need to be using a pesticide registered for the purpose.  So I suggest you use one of the products mentioned on this thread registered for the purpose.

It's not a good practice to teach students to break the law, however small the offence. 

Monona


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff <jtenney46**At_Symbol_Here**ATT.NET>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Tue, Feb 4, 2020 9:09 pm
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] ether for anesthetizing fruit flies

Finn Scientific has a  Carbon Dioxide Drosophila Anesthetizer. Uses an alka-seltzer tablet.
 
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
 
From: Ellen M. Sweet
Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2020 6:07 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] ether for anesthetizing fruit flies
 
Hi everyone,
We are looking to renovate a Genetics teaching lab that has the students using ethyl ether to put fruit flies asleep. This is a common method of doing this, put certainly has its drawbacks when you consider the ventilation strategy (ether vapor is very heavy).
I'm wondering if anyone has been successful in having 12-14 student stations using this chemical in a teaching setting (on the bench) and keeping the exposures and smell down? Keeping in mind that fruit flies will get sucked up into local exhaust if they are too close!-
In addition to floor level exhaust diffusers, what else would you recommend and how many air exchanges for the room?
 
Thanks!
Ellen
 
P.S. I'm pushing for CO2, but may not get what I want.
 
 
Ellen Sweet
Laboratory Ventilation Specialist
Department of Environmental Health and Safety, Cornell University
American Chemical Society, Division of Chemical Health and Safety
315-730-8896
 
 
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--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
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