Larry's right. Depending on what you swab, you can inadvertently pick up
human pathogens. You don't want to be growing this stuff at home, nor do you
want to be putting the plates in your garbage can for your garbage men to
haul away. If you pick up fungi, propagating aerial hyphae can cause
problems. If you inhale this stuff you can cause yourself serious
respiratory disease. We work with all fungi under (expensive) biosafety
cabinets with hepa filters.
We hire special haulers to take away our plate waste, and I'm sure it's not
cheap.
Best to grow stuff on potatoes or in your refrigerator....
Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology
"Larry Farrell" <farrlarr from isu.edu> wrote in message
news:452e8e0a$0$19650$88260bb3 from free.teranews.com...
> Given the difficulties that a "hobbyist or student" can generate by
> playing around with microorganisms about which they know little or
> nothing, I would not suggest that that such purchases should be made by
> individuals. Bacteria, fungi and yeasts can be nasty if not handled
> properly with appropriate supervision, and handling in make-shift
> facilities almost guarantees that problems of various sorts will arise.
>
