Chemistry lab safety during pregnancy - what are your protocols?

Question

SciPinion is seeking opinion and input regarding a situation in an organic chemistry teaching lab that was brought to us from a professor.

One of their students recently shared the news that she was expecting a child, and asked if there were any concerns with her working with or handling lab materials. Our colleague reached out to another more experienced professor, and received little input besides that the student should avoid handling chemicals and just contribute through notes and observations.

During a recent extraction experiment using naphthalene and benzoic acid, the naphthalene odor became increasingly noticeable despite good ventilation and fume hood use. Given the potential risks of naphthalene fumes during pregnancy, the student was excused from the lab after reviewing relevant safety information.

So we are seeking input on the following:
• Do your institutions have written policies or guidelines for mothers-to-be in teaching labs?
• Are there specific substances (like naphthalene or common solvents) you flag as higher-risk during pregnancy?
• How do you balance protecting health while still supporting a student's educational progress?

The professor wants to be proactive about safeguarding the student's well-being, and keep them on track academically. Any perspectives, examples, or resources would be very helpful. 
The author of the response with the most upvotes will receive a $75 reward courtesy of SciPinion.
Answers can be submitted until September 24, when voting will begin and remain open until September 30, 2025.

Kindest regards, SciPinion.

Min-Guk Cho · Answer

I don’t know of any strict written policies, but I can share something from personal experience. When my wife was doing her PhD, she became pregnant toward the end of her program. At that point, she needed to run kinase assays with radioactive isotopes to finish her work. That obviously raised some questions.
Her advisor and she talked a lot about it. Everyone knew that things like strong acids, reactive oxygen, or radiation are not great to be around when you’re expecting. The initial thought was to either find another way to do the experiments or cut back on chemical use as much as possible.
But the reality was that she still needed those isotope experiments to graduate. After weighing the risks, and getting advice that exposure could be kept low under strict safety conditions, she decided to go ahead. Thankfully, everything turned out fine and our child was born healthy. That said, I wouldn’t take this as proof that such work is “safe.”
For me, the takeaways are pretty simple:
• If the university has clear rules that pregnant students shouldn’t handle certain materials, then those rules come first, no matter what.
• If the rules aren’t clear, then the decision ends up being very personal, between the student and their advisor. But with that comes the responsibility for any outcomes.
• In practice, most labs have chemicals that can be risky during pregnancy. Sometimes the safest choice is to step back from those experiments. Still, not every student wants to stop their research entirely. In those cases, you have to look for safer alternatives, find ways to shift the work, or divide tasks with others so the student can still progress.

So in the end, it’s really about finding balance: protect the health of the student and the baby above all else, but also respect the student’s goals. Where there are policies, follow them. Where things aren’t clear, make the decision carefully, minimize risk, and let the student have a say in how to move forward.

This text is based on my personal experience and written by me; only the grammar was checked, and it was not generated by AI.

crimulti · Answer

My institution does not have specific policies for pregnant women. However, we adhere to existing guidelines on occupational health and reproductive hazards, with support from our office. Therefore, pregnant students are encouraged to consult with safety personnel in order to make decisions based on a documented risk assessment. Privacy is guaranteed, and solutions are personalised to each individual needs.

Obviusly, certain substances are consistently reported as more risky during pregnancy. When exposure to such substances is possible (despite the presence of fume cupboards), we reduce the risk by assigning low-risk laboratory roles or using shared data sets/simulations for missed experiments.

The goal is not to exclude, but to protect, keeping students on track academically. By making risks transparent, offering alternatives, and adapting assessments, we support the health of both students and children without compromising outcomes.

Bob Sonawane · Answer

Most of the research labs , academic and private institutions around the  United States and around the world , do not have chemical safety  written protocols (SOPs)and regular training to  for technicians, students who spent their substantial time working on their research projects /tasks without knowing acute/ chronic exposure to  common solvents ( Benzene,  Touene Acetonitrile, Formaldehyde,  Sulphuric acid, Nitric acid, Naphthalene, Ethylene Oxide , TCE , Dicloroethylene, CS2,Mercuric chloride  etc.)and many others. Some of them are well known human carcinogens , reproductive/ cns and deveopmental toxicants causing birth defects as well as endocrine disruptors  at very low levels of exposures based on heath risk assessments done by US EPA. FDA, and ECHA, WHO IPCS, and IARC. No single regulatory agency in the USA have developed guidelines , provided guidance to research institutions  on this particular public health concern.

Chemistry lab safety during pregnancy - what are your protocols? $75

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