Citizen Science and the Law

Forrest M. Mims III

The "Backscatter" department in this issue of The Citizen Scientist leads with a letter from Howard McPherson, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry. Dr. McPherson has experienced firsthand the difficulty of attempting to purchase standard laboratory supplies and chemicals because of the tightening noose of regulations designed to protect us from terrorists and to prevent do-it-yourself drug factories.

The growing restrictions on basic chemistry supplies extends to microbiology and other fields. The result is that amateur chemists and microbiologists are being forced to sharply curtail or even abandon their experiments and their studies. Student scientists who want to conduct their research at home are also seriously affected.

Protecting us from terrorists and drug factories are legitimate functions of government. But why is it necessary to set back the next generation of chemists and microbiologists who would otherwise have begun their careers during their middle and high school years? And why must citizen scientists and professionals like Dr. McPherson be punished in the process? Will not the terrorists have achieved a victory if they succeed in fatally damaging budding science careers and the work of citizen scientists? Green shirt-pocket laser pointers have many important scientific applications. Will the government ban them because a few vandals have pointed them at aircraft?

Student and citizen scientists around the world have long had to cope with a bewildering array of regulations and laws. Years ago when I was designing model rocket radio transmitters, an important consideration was to make sure that they did not exceed the 100 milliwatt power limit the Federal Communications Commission imposes for unlicensed transmitters. More recently, I had to jump through a variety of hoops to order some cultures of Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens bacteria for ultraviolet experiments. Once I designed a high-current pulse driver for high-power laser diodes. The circuit delivered 100 ampere pulses having a duration of around 35 nanoseconds. A miniature thyratron switching tube (EG&G Krytron) was used to achieve these parameters. The thumb-sized tube is filled with a radioactive Krypton-85 gas, and later I learned that these devices were used to trigger high-explosives in nuclear bombs. In today's climate, it might not be a good idea to experiment with this kind of laser pulse generator.

A laser trade organization once asked me to give a keynote talk at their annual meeting. Before my talk a state regulator gave a presentation about a new law that required laser owners to pay a $25 license annual registration fee for every laser. The only exception, she explained, was lasers that were for sale. I had brought hundreds of semiconductor lasers to this meeting, and the outlandish registration fees would have completely ended my laser career. So I added to my talk an extemporaneous commentary about the ridiculously high laser registration fees--and announced that all the lasers I had brought to the meeting were for sale. The audience enjoyed this response, and even the regulator smiled.

Science fair students know all about regulations. They can't display any liquids with their projects or even any plant matter. Several years ago I spotted a tearful student talking to her mother at a major science fair. A safety inspector had removed some leaves attached to her carefully prepared project board, leaving behind gaping spaces. This was done in case a visitor might have an allergic reaction to the leaves! I wanted to ask the safety people if they also planned to remove the grass and shrubbery in front of the auditorium and disinfect the judges and visitors.

Those who want to experiment with living organisms must meet standards that can be almost impossibly difficult. My daughter Sarah experienced so many hassles during her studies of her discovery of living fungal spores and bacteria in biomass smoke that her second year of research was affected. She still managed to earn First Grand Prize at the Texas Junior Academy of Science, and her discovery was published as a paper in Atmospheric Environment. Yet her project would have been even better had she been able to sample bacteria without having to find the PhD microbiology advisor required by rules so strict that, if they applied to high school biology classes, teachers could not grow bacteria and mold cultures in their classrooms.

Science teachers and both student and citizen chemists and biologists are finding creative means to do their experiments without access to controlled substances and equipment. Ralph Coppola's "Wandering's" column has mentioned many such methods and projects over the years. For example, in this issue's installment of "Wanderings," Ralph links to a RatLab site (not to be confused with the SAS LABRats program) that shows how to use everyday household materials to extract DNA from vegetable matter. Ralph's column also links to the University of Maryland 's Inexpensive Science Teaching Equipment Project and other sites of interest to do-it-yourself chemists, biologists and physicists.

Many studies have shown that science education and scientific literacy are in decline in the United States. It's past time for legislators and regulators concerned about terrorists and drug factories to provide reasonable exemptions for student and citizen scientists.

Forrest M. Mims III

Readers, what do you think about the increasing restrictions being placed on student, amateur and citizen scientists? Do you have a personal experience to relate? Do you have solutions to propose? Send your comments to "Backscatter." Place "Backscatter" in the subject line to give us permission to publish your letter. Letters should be family friendly and may be lightly edited for grammar and punctuation. Editor.