• Question: How safe are your experiments to yourself and to others? e.g. testing on people

    Asked by marema to Gioia, Iain, Jo, Leo, Mariam on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Hi marema.

      My work is very safe, because we don’t really do experiments on people or animals. What we do st to observe what happens to people “in the wild”.

      Sometimes I might send people a questionnaire with questions that could upset them – like asking them what illnesses they have, or whether their parents had cancer – but because we just study people who are living their normal lives, I don’t think we ever physically hurt someone.

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      Well, I use computer for my reasearch, so it is completely safe.

    • Photo: Gioia Cherubini

      Gioia Cherubini answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      There is absolutely no testing on people in my work, but we always have to be very concerned about safety, for ourselves and for the others. We wear labcoats and protective goggles and if we are using dangerous substances, then we work in special areas chemical /biological hoods to avoid spillage in communal areas. Since I work with viruses, I also have to make sure that everything that has touched it is inactivated before throwing it in the bin.

    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      My experiments are pretty safe. Whenever I’m using nasty chemicals or working with anything else that could be harmful, I make sure I’m wearing gloves and my lab coat to protect myself, and the guys who work around me all wear lab coats too so I couldn’t hurt them by accidentally splashing things on them. I don’t test drugs, either on people or on animals, so that’s not a problem for me.

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