Tiptoe through the petri dish

Medical Laboratory Observer, June, 2005 by Judy January

I just had a comment on your recent MLO article [Liability and the lab, "'Green thumb' not welcome in the lab," March 2005, p. 38] regarding plants in the lab. I work in microbiology. A while back, we allowed plants. They became infested with mites, which then got into the incubator. We could see their tracks as they moved through the growth on the petri dishes. Didn't seem too sanitary, so no more plants!

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--Judy January

Microbiology Technical Specialist

Oregon Medical Laboratories

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