I studied chemistry and worked in Pharma research for half a year (Germany, 2018). Standard safety procedures are there, but it’s no biology lab. Stuff gets spilled, you breath in vapors of solvents, and the lunch break happens in the office next to the lab, after a quick hand wash.
I am pretty sure up to a microgram of almost anything we made ended up in somebody… Usually we handled 10mg up to 10g batches. Surprisingly, the lab Assistents are overall pretty fine and don’t appear to suffer any consequences more than the average population well into their 50s and 60s. (And those guys worked there last century with even LESS protocols!). I guess we would need an extensive study on the health effects of working in the chemical industry, I suspect there to be SOME consequences...
Another point I might add: University is much worse! The lower semesters are all over the place and the students need to buy new jeans regularly because of all the sulfuric acid holes after washing… Even later I clearly remember being positively euphoric after distilling or refilling DCM, Chloroform or Ether more than once...
Last defense for the sweeteners: I do have a sample of Neotame and in my experience, everyone who “smells” the powder (light breathing from 10-20cm away) after opening the package spends the next 5 Minutes being weirded out with eeeeverything being sweet and having this weirdly sweet taste run down the back of your throat. It is hard to describe how sweet it is and how hard it is to avoid making everything in the vicinity or that you touch lightly sweet as well. If you touch the powder at all, even after a diligent hand wash with soap, your fingers are still notably sweet 😉 (And that is just 10.000x Sucrose)
Thank you for writing this. I understand the feeling of worry and being overwhelmed in regards to AI. It sure does feel unlikely to get global politics to listen and, ideally, on board for this...