XN000022-1978-11-20 — Page 4

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1978

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STUDENTS ADVISED AGAINST EXPERIMENTS AT HOME

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SECONDARY STUDENTS INTENDING TO CARRY OUT ANY KIND OF EXPERIMENT AT HOME INVOLVING THE USE OF CHEMICALS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR SCIENCE TEACHERS FIRST, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ADVISED TODAY.

HE SAID IT HAD BEEN NOTED RECENTLY THAT SOME LOCAL SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS ADVOCATED MANY CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENTS TO SCHOOL CHILDREN TO BE PERFORMED AT HOME.

THEY

+SOME OF THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS EITHER INVOLVE THE USE OF DANGEROUS CHEMICALS OR GENERATE REACTIONS WHICH ARE VIOLENTLY EXPLOSIVE.

+SUCH HAZARDOUS EXPERIMENTS SHOULD BY NO MEANS BE DONE BY

SCHOOL CHILDREN AT HOME,+ THE SPOKESMAN SAID.

FOR POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS EXPERIMENTS, HE CONTINUED, THE ONLY PROPER PLACE IS THE SCHOOL SCIENCE LABORATORY WITH QUAL IF IED SUPERVISORY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE.

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAS ALSO ISSUED A GENERAL CIRCULAR TO HEADS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS ADVISING THEM TO DRAW THE IR STUDENTS' ATTENTION TO THE DANGER OF HOME EXPERIMENTS.

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