LAB HAZARDS:
Spiked Coffee Prompts Police Inquiry
Jocelyn Kaiser
Last month, six researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Medical Center fell ill after swigging coffee that was laced with acrylamide, a neurotoxic chemical used in molecular biology labs. All six were treated in local hospital emergency rooms and returned to work the same day. But when tests revealed that the amount of chemical in the coffee seemed too high to be accidental, campus police began a criminal investigation.