EtdBr cleanup - need advice

[Larry Hale]

Now that everyone is thinking about Ethidium bromide, I would appreciate 
some advice about a spill we just had.

Over the weekend, a student spilled a small (20 ml) bottle of 20 mg/ml EtdBr 
in water off the bench and onto the floor. I found out about it late 
yesterday. The solution has seeped between the floor tiles. We thought it 
easiest to just pull up the tiles and replace them. However, the mortar 
beneath the tiles is stained as well, and we are having no success getting 
it completely off.

Is there any solution that we can use to completely remove the remaining 
EtdBr before we replace the tiles? Is there any significant risk to leaving 
it somewhat stained, and simply tiling over?

Thanks a lot.

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*  Larry Hale                                             *
*    Biology Dept., Univ. of Prince Edward Island         *
*    Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada                        *
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*  The opinions expressed are not those of UPEI, sadly.   *
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