sending DNA internationally

[John Richard Seavitt]

On 17 Nov 1997, John Korte wrote:

> Has anyone had experience sending DNA to other countries?  I recently
> wanted to send some genomic DNA to Australia and had a great amount of
> grief doing so.  I normally send it in EtOH, the final conc. of which is
> about 50%, this however was not the problem, the DNA itself was at issue. 

It often bypasses a lot of regulations (or rather, the inclination to
enforce regulations) to label the material in as nonthreatening and
general a manner as possible.  In this instance, imagine labelling the
same package as: 

"Nontoxic, nonhazardous biological sample of <<species name>> origin.  For
research purposes only.  No commercial value."

Generally (and this will, of course, vary by country of destination)  we
only have to deal with a shipping agent (companies which expedite this
kind of thing) with live animal shipments.

By the way (and I know it doesn't help you with genomic), plasmid dna can
be shipped dry on whatman paper, which makes it damn close to a 'document'.

John Seavitt