Developed to replace toxic Ethidium bromide (EtBr), the Safe-Green™, Safe-Red™, Safe-White™ and the SafeView™ dyes are a new class of non-carcinogenic nucleic acid stains for the visualization of double-stranded DNA, single-stranded DNA, and RNA in both agarose and polyacrylamide gels.
EtBr has been widely used for nucleic acid gel staining because of its low cost and generally sufficient sensitivity. However, EtBb is highly mutagenic. The safety hazard and costs associated with decontamination and waste disposal can ultimately make the dye expensive and inconvenient to use.
The EtBr alternatives are non-carcinogenic by the Ames-test.