Chemical risk in academic research: from raising cultural awareness to providing innovative solutions

The size of the academic workforce in the STEM has progressively increased and operations involving the use of chemicals have expanded beyond the traditional precincts of chemical, natural sciences and medical research. In addition, operations as conducted in the frame of research do not lend well to chemical risk assessment along the established pathways of industrial hygiene and toxicology. Among the main differences are the general novelty of used substances, for which physico-chemical, technological and biological properties are the very object of study; the limited adequacy of the exposure scenario, essentially based on inhalation of volatiles for which agreed exposure limits are often available; the generally very small amounts of substances handled through multiple manual steps. This unusual scenario is the source of missed, often unreported, accidents, of serious or deadly consequences, of a poor awareness of occupational risk in academic research and of a consequent lack of a sound cultural, scientific and technical base for prevention. To approach this topic, we examine a few case histories where limited awareness of chemical hazards led to dire consequences for research workers. We will trace analogies and differences among the discussed cases, pointing at causal factors that span from gross violation of well-known safe behaviour [1,2] to accidents caused by insufficient operator protection from very toxic substances [3] to perceivably cautious handling of new substances of an unknown and unforeseen toxicity [4]. To overcome the lack of suitable scientific and technical base for prevention, we refer to the analogy with tackling the occupational risk of handling antineoplastic drugs in hospital departments and pharmacies, awareness of which started in the 1980s and led to successful prevention by a combination of investigation methods and technical interventions. A major advance in exposure assessment derived from surface sampling of drug deposition and systematic analysis of manual working steps and protection devices [5]. This analogy may lead to introducing improved manipulation techniques for chemicals for which traditional approaches may overlook the exposure pathways. The characterization of the hazard of novel substances may be limited and deemed unnecessary, since most products will not have further application and diffusion beyond one laboratory and research project. Perspectives for preliminary hazard characterization may derive from advanced, AI-based, computational methods [6]. Scientific and technical advances in hazard and risk characterization, however, will hardly suffice in mitigating chemical exposure-derived occupational risk in academia. Cultural awareness should be expanded both from the intellectual world of life sciences to that of academic chemical practitioners and from the chemical professions towards the many others that use chemical substances and operations with insufficient consciousness of hazard and potential risk. [1] Kemsley Jyllian N. Researcher Dies After Lab Fire. Chem. Eng. News, Jan 22, 2009 (https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/science/87/8731sci1.html?); Learning From UCLA. August 3, 2009; 87(31): pp. 29-31, 33-34. (https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/letters/87/8740letters.html?) [2] Terranova S. [Apotheke, the laboratory of poisons] Duetredue Ed (2014) [3] Science News Staff. Mercury Poisoning Kills Lab Chemist. Science Adviser, 11 June 1997 (doi: 10.1126/article.40157) [4] Lunelli B. [Hazard of C4O2XY compounds] La Chimica e l’Industria (Milano) 86:04, May 2005, p. 99 [5] Favier B, Simonin C, Tokatian S, Guitton J, Darnis S, Basset M, Chabaud S, Gilles L. Cytotoxic surface contamination in hospitals: Current practices, challenges and perspectives. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2025 Mar;31(2):305-314. doi: 10.1177/10781552241307905 [6] Bai C, Wu L, Li R, Cao Y, He S, Bo X. Machine Learning-Enabled Drug-Induced Toxicity Prediction. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Feb 3:e2413405. doi: 10.1002/advs.202413405