After much research, analysis and planning, ATCC has made the decision to phase out the shipment of flasks to international customers, beginning October 1, 2007.  We believe this action will provide the following benefits:

• Eliminate complaints due to flask items arriving overgrown, dead or damaged
• Reduce product costs
• Eliminate logistical problems related to shipping flasks internationally

Please be assured that there will be no disruptions in service for orders on the vast majority of ATCC cell lines.  However, there are some cell lines from The Naval Biosciences Laboratory (NBL) collection (item numbers ATCC® CRL-6000™ through ATCC® CRL-7999™) for which there is no frozen distribution stock readily available.  Orders for these cell lines without frozen distribution stock will have longer than normal lead times only until the first frozen distribution stock is made. 

As mentioned on the ATCC website http://www.atcc.org/common/cultures/nbl.cfm , because cell lines from the NBL collection are neither fully characterized nor accessioned by ATCC, we do not warrant them to the same extent that we warrant our other cell lines. ATCC does not guarantee they will maintain a specific morphology, purity, or any other property upon passage.

Also, there are a select few cell lines that are only available as flasks due to the nature of their growth requirements.  These cell lines will continue to be distributed as flasks to international customers:

ATCC® CRL-5836™

ATCC® CRL-5837™

ATCC® CRL-5841™

ATCC® CRL-5874™

ATCC® CRL-5886™

ATCC® CRL-5899™

ATCC® CRL-5914™

ATCC® CRL-5916™

ATCC® CRL-5983™

ATCC® CRL-5984™

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.