The use of human body fluids in undergraduate laboratories is now being questioned. Some scientists in academia no longer condone the use of human blood in laboratories because of the risk of transmitting diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). These people feel the benefits of using human body fluids are not worth the potential risks when weighed against the amount of information gained by the students. In fact, a reviewer of a recent grant proposal stated on a review sheet that he or she was shocked by our use of human blood in some laboratory exercises and could not accept our use of human fluids in teaching introductory physiology.
This reviewer is representative of a segment of academia that appears to have an irrational fear of using body fluids for laboratory exercises. But we feel human body fluids cannot be replaced in the teaching ...
