Patricia (Trisha) Emry at the U of Washington asks:

>>I have been using a fix ...a commercial formalin substitute..that makes 
several of us in the lab feel ill. I talked to the company and was told I 
didn't know what I was talking about....smell, it has no smell. - Is there 
something I can soak the specimens in to counteract the fix like there is for 
counteracting formaldehyde? I have used Formalex and found it does well for 
formaldehyde, but I haven't tried it on the "P" fix.<<

You don't have to be coy on HistoNet - what is "P" fix? What's in it? - if it 
isn't on the bottle label, check the MSDS (Materials Safety Data Sheet).

Probably the company is just doing Good Management in telling you that the 
product is odorless. It's worth bearing in mind, though, that every one of us 
lacks at least one common odor receptor, and cannot smell a substance most 
people can smell. The fact that some people cannot smell hydrogen cyanide is 
well known. I cannot smell grape soda, which has no odor at all for me - nor 
can I smell kudzu flowers, often described as having a grape soda aroma.

If the smell of the fixative is noticeable, your ventilation is inadequate, 
and your laboratory is in violation of numerous safety rules. 

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN