Talk:Biological Stain Commission

22nd May 2010 The bits you (DGG) deleted were not cribbed copyright stuff; they were written by me! JAKiernan

21st Mat 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by JAKiernan (talk • contribs) 23:22, 22 May 2010 (UTC) The Biological Stain Commission (BSC) is an 85 year-old organization well known to many thousands of scientists, worldwide but especially in N America, who buy "certified" dyes for staining microscopic preparations or for making up selective culture media for bacteria. The certification label on a bottle of dye indicates that the contents are from a batch assayed and tested for purity and efficacy in the BSC's independent laboratory in Rochester NY.

All dyes contain colourless substances such as sodium chloride or sulphate, or dextran, and many also contain coloured substances other than the principal component. Occasionally a dye is a compound different from the one named by the supplier. Certified dyes must meet required standards of identity, dye content, and freedom from undesirable contaminants, and they must perform correctly in biological tests: the staining methods and other techniques for which they are to be sold.

Many Wikipedia articles mention the Biological Stain Commission.

I intend to enlarge and improve this Wikipedia entry in the next few weeks.

JAKiernan (J. A. Kiernan, Professor, Dept of Anatomy & Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada)