ISLAMABAD: There is a need to develop and introduce the culture of safety in academic and industrial laboratories to mitigate hazards posed by chemicals. Workers in laboratories, students and chemical handlers should be given proper training.

These views were expressed by experts at a workshop on Tuesday.

“We must have a proper training mechanism for people who work in labs and handle chemicals, develop capacity and infrastructure, spend more money to secure people exposed to chemicals, introduce regulatory framework and develop a good system of chemical disposal,” said Prof M. Iqbal Chaudhry, a renowned chemical scientist, coordinator general Comstech and director of International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS).

He was speaking at a two-day international workshop organised by Comstech and ICCBS titled ‘Chemical Safety & Security in Academic and Industrial Laboratories’.

“Chemicals have immense effects on the human health and even impact the health of the coming generations. When we buy chemicals from abroad, we are given safety instructions to handle them, but when we synthesise new chemicals, do we know the safety concerns?

It is vital to know the kinds of hazards of chemicals we are exposed to in our labs and environment,” he said, adding there are many chemicals that have an immense risk even if we are exposed to a very small quantity of them.

Dr Shahid Baig, chairman of Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), said chemicals have short and long-term serious effects that could even take life. He suggested that proper chemical handling training for lab workers, students, and chemical handlers should be carried out.

“We do not have any chemical safety and security training course,” he said, adding academic and industrial labs would benefit from this workshop. PSF along with the Ministry of Science and Technology and Comstech is working on a number of projects.

Dr Baig said the ministry is looking forward to cooperating with Comstech to achieve its objectives of socio-economic development and capacity building of OIC member states.

Khalid Latif, a corporate sector consultant with 33 years of experience, working in the multinational chemical industry, said: “We use chemicals in large quantities, in our daily lives without following any safety measures. Health and environment are somewhat neglected areas. Academic labs are also lacking in practicing safety measures. Safety and security is most important in chemical handling, and the need of proper safety training in chemical handling,” he said.

Dr Abdul Rashid, director pharmacy services, Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), suggested that researchers and students should equip themselves with multidisciplinary knowledge to produce innovative results. He said chemicals were used for commercial purposes and were useful but dangerous to the health and environment. The government and industry should develop chemical safety standards and provide proper training to students, chemical handlers and lab workers.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2021