Pregos in lab (Unedited)
by Kyle on Mar 18 2008 (3590 Views)This is a sensitive issue, so I’ll tread lightly here (or as lightly as I can.) I’ve wondered to myself, as a member of the Cock And Nuts Club, if women who are with child should be “allowed” to work in the lab. By “with child” of course I mean Preggos and by “lab” I mean a real lab where there are chemicals like chloroform and benzene and RB flasks and shit. Biochemistry labs don’t count since they poop themselves when someone spills the “Ethidium bromide”, which is orders of magnitude more dangerous than their next killer – HEPES buffer. Since we organic chemists eat Ethidium bromide on our toast, the true understanding of glove-penetrating solvents with the ability to conduct organic compounds transdermally into your blood stream should be more apparent. In short, as I watch the current trend of celebrity pregnancy blend itself with graduate students, it’s becoming abundantly clear that there should be some sort of guidelines that establish when and if it is appropriate to tell a pregnant woman she can’t work in the lab any more.But I’m one of those sushi-eating, BMW driving, tree hugging, pro-choice libertarians who doesn’t particularly feel inclined to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do with things intractably connected to their uterus. It’s simply a concern for the liability for a school and for a student since, as often as Universities like to play the dual card of “You’re student/Staff – more so when it suits us best” they’d have a hard time running from the accusation that “I’m just a dumb student, no one told me I shouldn’t play in the lab while preggers.” While logically, no one should be able to get away with this defense. It’s the proverbial killing of your parents and asking for leniency because you’re an orphan – but the judicial system in this country doesn’t work that way. When it comes to placing fault, the “victim” is generally treated like… well… a victim.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying it’s a bad decision to work in the lab while a woman is pregnant. My liability isn’t at stake here. If a woman chooses to do so, however, she carries the burden of risk with her, however high that may be. The fact that there is no consensus, let alone regulation, isn’t totally surprising, but the fact that there is no policy of forcing a bunch of forms and signatures is a bit.
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Mar 18, 2008 - 05:03:17my comments were the best part of that post, anyway.
I still don’t see why Kyle felt obliged to pull this post. Kyle?
I think an administrator at his university threatened he wouldn’t receive some fellowship or honor or some crap if he didn’t take it down. Not sure if that is the correct storyline though.
Mitch
heh. No, Mitch. That’s certainly quite fanciful, however. The truth is exactly as I stated: ANYONE that asks for a post to be removed will have their request granted, assuming the post deals with their condition in some way. A pregos lady asked me to remove it, so I did. Indeed, the faculty that I spoke to about it expressed indignation at the notion that I would have removed it as well.
It doesn’t mean it can’t be put elsewhere, of course.
Woops, apparently I’m expelling fanciful tales of nonsense… Eh, my story is better though, by better I mean more sordid.
Mitch
Pregnant women should be careful when working in the lab because of how the chemicals might effect the growth of the fetus. While the woman has the right to decide that, there are certain chemicals and organisms that have a known risk towards fetuses.
For example, Listeria monocytogenes is well known for causing spontaneous miscarriages. So it would be a really stupid pregnant woman who would continue to work in a food microbiology lab where L monocytogenes is being kept. In fact, our microbe guy put a notice on his lab door saying ” L. monocytogenes grown in this lab. Pregnant women should not enter.” or words to that effect.
I just happen to have written on this very issue in the previous incarnation of my Alchemist column on ChemWeb – I’ve posted the unedited item from my archives as an item entitled An Expectant Air in the Laboratory. Hope it’s of interest.
db
WOW!!!! So I am the only WOMAN…who has worked with WOMEN who were pregnant and working in a laboratory environment and those women had the common sense to take “Maternity Leave” when it was appropriate and/or witin the realm of good judgement and/or common sense!!!!
Are you thinking they have a dual death wish and are going to dive head first into a vat of APIs…….
Really, I think most pregnant women are aware of the hazards in labs if they are chemists/biologists/scientists. They are pregnant. They are not mentally ill!!!!! And educated enough to use sound judgement!!!!!
Try teaching HS Chemistry with 4-5 pregnant girls in each of your sections…..Even they have enough judgement to know when they can no longer function in the lab/school environment…..
I guess you must all feel quite LUCKY y’all made it to this earth in one piece!!!!!!
HHHMMMM Interesting!!!!!! So I am guessing that women just do not have time to write about any of this since they are busy working and being pregnant…Assisting in perpetuating the hman race is a big job/responsibility….
Nice to see you credit women with the ability to make a judgement call regarding their own health and well-being!!!!!
PEACE OUT!!!!!
That last comment was linguistically atrocious.
Look at Kyle’s original site, for some lengthy postings of yours truly and a female chemisty department chair (posts #71 – 75). No point in ‘reproducing’ them here. We all think our children are beautiful, and our posts interesting. I find the comments as interesting as the progeny. Have at it.
While I agree that working in the lab while doing organic chemistry work is irresponsible (I mean, I’ve spilled chloroform on myself while running a column and thought “oh well, free dry cleaning”. If you can’t ingest coffee while pregnant, you certainly can’t inhale buckets of organic solvent and spill crap that penetrates your completely ineffectual nitrile gloves), I think the main issue is allowing women interested in pursing organic chemistry a chance to take a leave for their entire pregnancy without smashing their academic career to smithereens. Since being a daddy isn’t a problem with the health of your child in the lab, this puts women interested having an academic career in organic chemistry at a huge disadvantage. I’ve heard of grad programs that afford maternity leave of six weeks, but exceptions (that allow for longer leaves) should be made in programs where you can’t just keep going to work throughout your pregnancy because it’s frickin’ dangerous.
My first pregnancy was in a lab doing I125 studies. The second time I worked in a microbiology lab dealing with Pseudomonas everyday. Fortunately my two daughters are healthy so far. But I was in constant stress during those time, and I’m still afraid of bringing infection back home. No matter how careful, there is uncertainty and worrisome.
I feel very sad for myself and other freinds in the same situation. We simply can not quit. The next day we quitted the job, we’d be illegal immigrants and facing tremendous trouble in future. You think this is a free country, but in real life there is not much freedom if you want to be responsible and provide better future for the children. I’m not blaming anyone. I just feel deeply hurt when somebody referred to “stupid woman” in microbiology lab. In my institution, there are many legal immigrants working in animal facilities. They are scared of HIV and MRSA, but they have to keep the job for the family. And part of our tax money generated in this dangerous environment goes to support lazy people hanging on the street.
I am a graduate student under a government scholarship of a foreign country. My field is analytical chemistry and I deals with strong acids,buffer and low levels of metals such as Al,Ni,Mn,Fe,Zn,Pb,Co,Cu and Cd. I am now 9 weeks pregnant and unlike working scientists, I am not sure about protection/benefit that I can avail while pregnant. I am under supervision of a strict man who do not have a children. I am not sure how he will react if ever I will tell him about my situation. I am carefully doing my experiments, making sure that I am protected such as no skin contacts with the acids, wearing mask, gloves all the time and avoid unnecessary experiments. It is not easy and makes me worried all the time but at least I do not deal with organic compounds which are more dangerous to my me and my baby.
Hi im currently 16 weeks pregnant and working with H1N1 and to be honest I am petrified of contracting the virus! I have spoken to the Lab manager who told me that I was more likely to catch it on my way to work in the bus rather than in the Lab, which I realise is true if I follow all protocols to the letter. Yet I still have that fear and I dont actually think proper research has been done to establish all hazards to us pregnant ladies! So it is at our own risk we continue to work in the lab but what else should we do give up our careers?