[NHCOLL-L:2297] RE: FW: Shipping a wet specimen

[Simmons, John E]

In order to ship the specimens in formaldehyde, you will have to comply
with hazardous materials regulations.  An alternative, one that we are
using for formaldehyde specimens, is to put the specimens in a small
amount of water instead of formaldehyde for the shipment.  The specimen
will not suffer from rehydration because the formaldehyde solution is
mostly water anyway.  You must alert the receiver that the specimens are
in water so that they can be placed in formaldehyde upon their arrival.


This solution is inappropriate for specimens preserved in alcohol,
because they will absorb water and probably be damaged by the
rehydration that occurs.

--John

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Rabeler [mailto:rabeler at umich.edu] 
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 10:32 AM
To: NHCOLL-L server
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2296] FW: Shipping a wet specimen

I have a shipping query that I would like to pass by those on the list.

We have been asked to send a small specimen of preserved algae to Italy
that
has been stored in 5% formalin and is still wet with that substance.  I
suspect this would qualify as a substance that I would have to ship
separately from the dried specimens that we also will be sending.  From
the
comments I heard at the 2003 SPNHC meeting at Lubbock, shipping of
"dangerous" goods is now much more highly regulated than in the past.

Are there any precautions / regulations that I must comply with? Any
information you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Rich Rabeler,
University of Michigan Herbarium
3600 Varsity Drive
Ann Arbor MI 48108-2287