[pasbesoin]

I remember at the time I was taking chemistry classes that the average lifespan of chemists was 5 years less than that of the overall population -- or so one of the professors said.

This was some time ago, and I gather things have improved, but our labs -- and this was a well-endowed school -- were... far less than optimal. Ventilation in organic chemistry lab consisted of turning all the vent hoods on in the vented compartments lining one side of the room and hoping that that would do some good. Acetone exposure was pretty much non-stop. Toluene also quite common and pervasive. Ethers. Benzene, in one lab I recall.

All that said, I would hope -- I guess I shouldn't expect, though? -- that in the graduate environment one would have reliable access to / use of a vented compartment? (I wouldn't want to live directly downwind from that building, though.)

Anyway... How do you feel about math? What about computational chemistry? I'm not arguing that you necessarily stay in chemistry. Just whether some of your concerns might be subject -- perhaps with some effort -- to reduction at the grad level. And whether combining programming and computation with chemistry would be an interest. Whether doing the chemistry itself, or making computational tools for chemists.

My imagination is that such might be a niche where, if you are good, there is more opportunity. Lots of product engineering going on.

[thelogos]

I certainly believe your professor. It's not really the lifespan but more about the degradation of your body and mind as some of these solvents are quite neurotoxic. I'm not worried much about acetone, but toluene, benzene, hexavalent chromium, polyacrylamide, etc.

The argument from chemists have always been, I know X who works at Y job for 3 decades and is still fine.

The whole point is these effects take place so slowly that most people won't notice or attribute it to their job.

Occupational hazards aren't exclusive to chemistry to be sure, but our salary doesn't nearly justify it.

In fact from the amount of education we must go through, our typical work is almost semi-blue collar (not dissing on blue collar work).

Fumehoods are practically worthless when people routinely carry things back to their lab bench, leaving a trail of fume behind them.

The analytical labs are not as bad as the organic labs. I feel the most sorry for the ta especially.

This is much better than a few decades ago when mercury residues were not even a big deal. The graduate environment at our uni is not much better, but it might be at better funded lab. Most of our money goes to the engineering facilities and football stadium.

Chemistry has really gone downhill. Organic jobs are getting outsourced. Most of the jobs left are repetitive qc analytical work and very specialized roles with extremely specific requirements.