Safety with 32P- and 35S-labeled compounds

Radioactive materials are commonly used as tracers in many biochemical procedures. Because of the potential for radiation exposure of the bench scientist using these tracers, this chapter has been written about the principles, techniques, and materials used in working safely with the two most commonly used radionuclides in molecular cloning, 32P and 35S. Both are pure β emitters, i.e., there are no photons emitted by the nucleus during decay. 35S has a maximum β energy of 167 keV and a half-life of 87.4 days. 32P, with a maximum β energy of 1710 keV (or 1.7 MeV), is considerably more hazardous. Its half-life is 14.3 days