Licenses Exist For A Reason

When I was almost done with my Ph.D., I did a brief stint in a lab in the private sector. I was looking for a stable paid job while I was in the hiatus between the end of my scholarship and a job in a public research institution, which is a typical plan where I live. Why was it “brief”? Because of the following exchange.

Me: “[Lab Senior], we are almost out of [chemical]. One week at most at our usual pace. We really should buy more at once. Its stock is always too low for our needs.”

Lab Senior: “Okay! Can you please order more? You can get the supplier’s info and the usual quantity in the folder by the entrance.”

Me: “Sure! Is the license in the same folder?”

Lab Senior: “The what?”

And I went pale.

In most, if not all of the world, there are lists of restricted and controlled substances. They are either too toxic or too unmanageable, can be used to make explosives or worse, or are just plain illegal in any other setting but a lab. Buying them, of course — and justly so — involves some red tape, and knowing this while working on a lab is something I thought was common sense. I was wrong.

Me: “The license for buying [chemical]! We do have it, don’t we?”

Lab Senior: “Oh, that! It expired two years ago. That’s why we are buying in small quantities!”

Me: “Are you kidding me?! The h*** I’ll order it!”

Lab Senior: “C’mon! Stop being a [slur]. As long we order in small quantities, no one will look into it! The administrative bigheads are looking into getting our licences back.”

Me: “‘Licenses’? In the plural?”

Lab Senior: “Well… we let some of our licenses expire. This happens; it’s common all over! People are already looking into it, and we can’t just stop working! Just do your job and I’ll order more [chemical].”

In the following days, I looked into our papers and discovered that not only were almost all our licenses expired, but also, the lab wasn’t following the legal procedures for control and discarding of our chemicals. I gave my notice, and as soon I was out, I gave an anonymous tip to the competent authorities about the lab and the suppliers.

The last thing I knew, some people on the top of the lab were jailed for a negligible amount of time, and there were some fines that were nothing more than slaps on the wrists of the suppliers and the company.

Since this episode, every time I interviewed for a private lab, I asked about their licenses and protocols. And I’ve only once worked for a lab in the private sector ever since, after almost ten “nopes”.