I was kidding. I however do think refusing to work with a uniquely useful substance because of the risks, without considering risk mitigation, is irrational and can impede good science.
cool. thx for replying back - maybe i'm a bit sensitive about this sort of thing but i'm tired of seeing students put in dangerous situations and then if/when something bad happens they're labelled 'professionals' and their supervisor walks off scott free. once i got out of academia and did some real H&S training and assessments I was amazed at how badly I'd been trained over a decade or so of chem.
I think we both agree that occupational health and safety, as it's generally practiced in academia, is an abomination; the sooner academia comes up to industry standards, the better.
Reading in C&EN about completely preventable accidents that happen in the ivory tower is both frustrating and heartbreaking.
