Last night I was reading a sample chapter of “The Boy Scientist” that I found while tidying documents on the computer. It gave an insight into how things have changed over the years and how things are changing for the umm better?
The book suggested that science equipment , being so cheap and easy to get (bunsen burner less then fifty cents – new!) made the exploration and experimentation by children (well boys anyway as the girls should really be learning the arts of cooking, sewing and housekeeping 
) accessible to all.
Chemicals could be bought by anyone cheaply and easily at the local chemical supply or the chemist would order it in for you – restrictions, what restrictions?
Oh by the way, dont forget to pack the sides of your burner with asbestos for safety…
I loved that bit, it shows that the safety police, ahem, I mean the hardworking concerned citizens that wish to restrict and regulate us from anything and everything that may cause harm (like showering in the nude in case we might see a naked sex organ) were yet to awaken.
o.k the safety police were right on the asbestos… But I wish to point out that it was the science ‘Experts’ who used asbestos in their laboratories and designated it as safe for use as things like DDT and thalidomide.