Dear colleagues,

I work at the Pitt Rivers Museum, an ethnographic museum in England,  
and have a query about how colleagues have dealt with pesticide  
residue dangers for pregnant members of staff whose jobs require them  
to  handle objects on a daily basis.

While there is plenty of evidence available that ethnographic  
collections tend to have deposits of various pesticides, arsenic,  
mercury &c, there seems to be very little evidence about how such  
residues affect the health of museum employees. We have all heard  
anecdotal evidence about museum employees being affected by  
pesticides, but does anyone know of any serious research on this topic?

We will of course require pregnant members of staff to wear gloves,  
lab coats, and masks, but I wondered if colleagues might share their  
thoughts on how to protect these members of staff while also enabling  
them to get on with their core duties.

We are also consulting members of ICOM who have a project on  
pesticides, and if colleagues on the MUSEUM-L list would find it  
useful, I will summarize the ICOM findings for the list when we get  
these.

With sincere thanks

Laura Peers
Curator (Americas)
Pitt Rivers Museum

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