Health Risks of Being a Scientist?

These days, science labs take safety way more seriously than they did back then. The labs I've worked in have had quite strict safety protocols and while they aren't perfect, they are a lot better than before. For instance, when I was in chemistry, before you did anything, you had to look up all the chemicals, understand the risks, write down how you were going to protect yourself, and then another chemist had to check out your plan and approve it.

A lot of the famous examples you mention took place a long time ago before those things were in place. E.g. in Curie's time, we still didn't really understand the risks of radiation or what it could do. She was messing around with radium without any protective gear- no nuclear lab would ever let you do that these days.

Now, it's still not perfectly safe (nothing is) and people do still get hurt from time to time. However, I wouldn't give up on science because of this. Every job has its risks, and if you follow the appropriate safety precautions in a science lab, the vast majority of the time you should be fine. Accidents do still happen, but most of them are from people cutting corners and not following the safety procedures.

I slipped on the ice walking to my office once and got a nasty bruise on my butt. Oh, and when I was in school I got a small cut from a sliver of broken test tube. Working with sick people is never pleasant, I think that's the greatest risk I come across, but let's face it, you deal with that at school.

Ok, ok, all kidding aside. It depends on what kind of scientist you want to be. I can't think of ANY reason to avoid the sciences due to risk, and I've worked in nearly every research setting. I've worked in labs, offices, hospitals, and so forth and I've never felt endangered. No one is ever going to coerce you into doing something you aren't comfortable with - You are the one who determines which risks you will take. Accidents happen, but they are really are pretty darned rare. And every career path has some risks. Even kindergarten teachers have to deal with sick kids, and if you work in a (garden) nursery you can get tetanus, etc, etc. Seriously, don't let it deter you.

[I did social research for a while, and that was actually far more dangerous; twice I was chased by stray dogs while walking from my car to research sites]