GoldView is a new, safe nucleic acid stain instead of tranditional ethidium bromide (EB) for detecting double- stranded DNA, single-stranded DNA, and RNA in agarose gel. It emits green fluorescence when bound to dsDNA and red fluorescence when bound to ssDNA or RNA. This new stain has two fluorescence excitation maxima when bound to nucleic acid, one centered at approximately 290 nm and one at approximately 490nm. GoldView is as sensitive as EB, and its protocol is the same way to EB. Compared to EB known as strong mutagen, GoldView cause much fewer mutations is the Ames test. In addition, GoldView has a negative test in mouse marrow chromophilous erythrocyte micronucleus test and mouse spermary spermatocyte chromosomal aberration test. So it is wise to choose GoldView instead of EB for detecting nucleic acid in agarose gels.