Are you interested in a scientific career but aren’t sure what to study? Keep reading to learn why students should consider studying toxicology, from career options to earning potential!
What Is Toxicology?
While many people have heard of toxicology before, what exactly does it mean and entail as a field of science?
Some refer to toxicology as “The Science of Safety” as its general focus is ensuring safety for people, animals, and the environment by studying dangerous toxins and their effects. From this broad research focus, there are numerous specialties of toxicology that a toxicologist can go into based on their interests.
The Benefits of Choosing a Toxicology Career
Why should students consider studying toxicology and making it their future career? There are many reasons, but some of the excellent benefits many toxicologists point to are the freedom to choose from a range of specialties, helping keep people safe, and the solid earning potential.
Range of Career Choices
As we discussed, there are many types of toxicology that a person can go into once they decide to be a toxicologist. Perhaps the most common toxicologist a person knows is a death investigation toxicologist—their job is to discover the cause of death for individuals and provide key findings to law enforcement.
Another toxicologist many have interacted with before are those who do workplace drug testing and doping control to ensure workers and professional athletes don’t have banned substances in their bodies. But if you’re not interested in bodily fluids, plenty of other toxicology careers focus on animals, the environment, food testing, and more.
Improve People’s Lives
Are you looking for a career where you can make a difference? Toxicology is an excellent field for those who want to improve people’s lives. The consistent framework, whether industrial or environmental toxicology, is researching toxins and their effects to enhance safety.
Toxicologists contribute much to our everyday lives, even if we don’t realize it. Toxicologists help government agencies establish regulations for protecting the environment, ensuring food safety, testing pharmaceutical drugs for safety, and informing the public about complex scientific subjects such as pollution and contaminants.
Lucrative Earning Potential
Of course, people still need to consider the practical aspects of a career—like fair wages and a comfortable living. While toxicologists have an average starting salary as a career, many earn six figures and over after just a few years of experience.
Much of the earning potential for a toxicologist will depend on their specific industry and where they work, but it generally is a comfortable and rewarding career, financially.
