Yes, in theory you can use bleach to sterilize your tools. Your local needle exchange program can give you full information on doing this and most will even provide you with a kit. (more coming soon)

No. Fire will not sterilize effectively, and it will damage whatever you are sterilizing, as well as leaving soot all over the item. This is an entirely ineffective way to sterilize.

No. Alcohol is not strong enough to kill most of the microbes we are worried about. While it's fine for things like wipe downs, it is utterly inadequate for sterilizing tools.

Our sterilization methods meet or exceed the standards set by the Center for Disease Control. All instruments are washed, scrubbed, placed in an ultrasonic disinfectant solution, then placed in the sterilizer at high temperatures.

Bleach is far a more powerful anti-microbial agent than alcohol. Drug treatment clinics regularly advise addicts to immerse their syringes in a thinned down bleach solution. However, they are starting to move away from this because the bleach kits often don't kill Hepatitis, and sometimes don't even kill the relatively fragile AIDS virus.

Bleach is inactivated by the presence of organic matter, e.g. blood. Bleach has a very strong odor and the mixing of chlorine and ammonia containing cleaning agents emits a highly toxic gas. Concentrations of bleach stronger than 1:100 are corrosive to metals. Bleach has a short efficacy life in liquid form and is sensitive to heat and sunlight.

Yes. In all three types, water can be brought to a boil. A little-known fact, however, is that to make water safe to drink, it only has to be pasteurized, not sterilized. Pasteurization takes place at 65? C (150? F) in only 20 minutes. This treatment kills all human disease pathogens, but doesn't waste the energy needed to bring the water to a boil.

Jars do not need to be sterilized before canning if they will be filled with food and processed in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes or more or if they will be processed in a pressure canner. Jars that will be processed in a boiling water bath canner for less than 10 minutes, once filled, need to be sterilized first by boiling them in hot water for 10 minutes before they're filled.

One of the most important parts of bottle feeding is sterilization. Before the initial use, all parts of the bottle, including the bottle, nipple, cap, and nipple ring, should be sterilized. There are different ways to do this. The most popular way to sterilize bottles is to bring a pot of water to a boil and drop all of the pieces in, leaving them to boil for about ten minutes. There are also special sterilizing units, which can be used in the microwave or to steam clean bottles.

A 5% to 10% solution (one tablespoon of bleach to one cup of water) can also be to disinfect potentially contaminated hard surfaces and clean off blood. A 1% solution (one tablespoon of bleach to one quart of water) can be used for general cleaning. As with most chemical cleaning agents, discard it after 24 hours as that's its effective lifetime. It is important to take this step because in an uncontrolled environment things will sink to the lowest common denominator.

Dental instruments are cleaned and sterilized at very high temperatures after each time they are used on a patient. Recommended sterilization methods include: an autoclave (steam under pressure), a dry heat oven, or chemical vapor (commonly called a chemiclave). The sterilization equipment usually is not in the treatment room, but if you'd like to see how and where it's done, ask the dental staff to show you.

Yes, Gamma Irradiation or Ethylene Oxide Gas sterilization is recommended. Again, information on sources for sterilization is available through Technical Service. Sterilization via autoclaving or steam sterilization is not possible.

Answer: For various reasons, it is most likely that non-surgical contraceptives will be administered by a licensed veterinarian. It is possible that certain individuals will be able to become licensed in administering the injection under the supervision of a veterinarian.

It is a good idea to sterilize your containers before using, but practically speaking this isn't easy to do if you are using plastics, and all glass isn't heat resistant and will crack if water that is too hot is used on them. If your containers are washed in hot soapy water and rinsed very well with hot water, this should be sufficient.

Boiling tools is an accepted time tested technique among field medics, but it's far from acceptable as anything other than a "no other options" type solution. You will get partial sterilization if you boil for an hour, but there are many, many microbes that you will not kill. This might be an acceptable way to clean tools and jewelry that have been used on either no one or only on you, but this is definitely not an acceptable way to clean tools that have come in contact with anyone else.

In theory new jewelry is not contaminated and could be put in after disinfection. Realistically, rubbing alcohol should be enough (remember though, if you put alcohol on acrylic you will break it)... but...

One needle/one person. All my needles are brand new, sterilized and vacuum sealed. When you get a tattoo from me, you will see me open the new needle pack in front of you so that there can be no doubt about its sterility. In addition, all tubes are sterilized via an autoclave and ink, ink caps, rubber bands, cellophane barriers and gloves are only used once and then thrown away after each use.