BENZYL VIOLET had long been used as a food color in some countries including Japan. It had been classified as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" compounds by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and by the Japan Society for Occupational Health. It was deleted from the food additives list in Japan in December 1972.

Bis-acrylamide is the most frequently used cross-linking agent for protein separation applications in polyacrylamide gels. Bis-acrylamide 2% solution is a standard solution used in most electrophoresis applications. Bis-acrylamide is a cross linking agent that polymerizes with acrylamide and creates cross links within the polyacrylamide gel. It is capable of creating a network rather than linear chains which helps in maintaining the firmness of gel.