The Mythical Water Material Safety Data Sheet

imageYes folks it’s real and it’s sitting right there. When I first learned about Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) the joke was that everything in your lab had to have one, including water. But that was a joke. No one has an MSDS for water. Well now the KochLab does. If your lab also has one then forgive me for my nievity, but the hilarity that I am about to notebook about is completely new to me and maybe even to some of you (most of you, all of you?). Anyways let’s proceed, but start at the beginning…

I posted last week about how I was going to determine if the DI water we keep in the lab has different effects from other DI waters so I bought 2 types of purified DI water from Sigma and it has arrived between Monday and today. I honestly don’t understand the differences in the waters (I mean why can’t they just sell some pure DI water and be done with it?) but whatever.

The water that arrived Monday was molecular biology grade water, and the water that arrived today was cell culture grade water. The difference in the packaging is minimal (just lot numbers and identifiers), except that the cell culture water came in a ziplock bag and had an MSDS provided with it.

WHAAATTTT?!

I know crazy. At first I thought nothing of it, but then I actually read the thing and all hilarity ensued. Here are some excerpts:

  • Potential Health Effects: May be harmful if inhaled. May cause respiratory tract irritation. May be harmful if absorbed through skin. May cause skin irritation. May cause eye irritation. May be harmful if swallowed.
  • First Aid Measures: If breathed in, move person into fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. In case of skin contact, wash off with soap and plenty of water. In case of eye contact, flush eyes with water as a precaution. If swallowed, never give anything by mouth to an unconscious person. Rinse mouth with water.

Yes this is for real.

And before you are all like “Well this is pure water… blah blah blah!” I understand that, but the amount of pure water you would have to drink to have any noticeable effects has to be more than the amount of D2O you would need to drink to be in any concern which is something like 30% of your body weight.

But just indulge me on how funny this all comes across.

And it’s pretty funny. I mean we’re talking about the fact that there are explicit dangers with having water in the lab. So much so that there is an information packet that tells you how to treat those dangers. And that the remedies for those dangers are to dispel with water! How insanely backwards is that?!

“Oh my goodness there is water in my eyes!” “Quick, flush your eyes with some water!”

“Oh no! I got water on my hands!” “Aahhh, rinse with soap and water! It’s the only way!”

Preposterous!