Human Participation in STEM Projects
It sounds like your project will involve collecting data about humans. Which of the following does your project fall under?
Surveys of opinions, attitudes or beliefs, skill tests, or observations of behaviour
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These are generally Low Risk projects. However, it is the responsibility of the adult supervisor to ensure that participants are not put at risk, either physically or emotionally. The project should not involve conditions where the risks of harm are greater or more likely than those encountered in everyday life. Choose the following option that best suits your project:
Food and Drink Projects
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Projects involving the consumption of food or drink are considered Low Risk when they are designed only to assess the characteristics and effects of a common food. This is defined as "any article manufactured, sold or represented for use as food or drink for human beings". The foods to be considered are basic or common foods that contain permitted additives not exceeding Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) guidelines normally associated with those foods.
Evaluation of foods in youth (under the age of 19 years) must only involve participants who are not taking prescription medications, to minimize the risk of drug-food interactions. Some provinces have put in place rules that govern ingestion of food by the public, and these take precedence over the rules in this section. Students doing ingestion projects must know the applicable procedures required for the safe handling of food. Projects involving the ingestion of alcohol or cannabis are forbidden.
If your project involves ingestion of licensed Natural Health Products, it is Significant Risk and not within these guidelines.
Please choose the following option that best fits your project:
Caffeinated Beverages
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Caffeine is found in soft drinks, coffee, tea, iced coffee, energy drinks, and many other food and drink products. It is the responsibility of the student researcher and the adult supervisor to ensure that the below daily limits are not exceeded in any Science Fair Project. Health Canada has expressed concerns about excessive intake of caffeine by Canadians, especially children and youth. Thus the ingestion of caffeine in Science Fair Projects must be closely monitored and kept within reasonable limits according to Health Canada recommendations. The daily limits of caffeine intake for Science Fair Projects are:
200 mg caffeine per day for subjects aged 13 and older.
85 mg caffeine per day for subjects aged 10 to 12.
No Projects involving caffeinated foods or drinks permitted in subjects under 10 years of age.
The caffeinated beverage used in your project must fall under the definition of a common food; "any article manufactured, sold or represented for use as food or drink for human beings".
Absorption through the skin
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Projects that involve absorption through the skin must not involve a risk of harm greater than that encountered in everyday life. If your project involves a substance that absorbs into the skin, that substance must be approved for regular use on skin. For example a project comparing different ways of removing bacteria using different brands of hand sanitizer is permissible.
Exercise Testing
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Projects involving exercise considered to be within normal everyday activities will be Low Risk. Projects involving exercise beyond normal everyday activities are considered to be Significant Risk projects. They require a Scientific Supervisor with training in exercise, such as a degree in kinesiology or appropriate coaching qualifications. All Participants in Significant Risk exercise projects must sign a Physical Exercise Permission Form. The scope of everyday activities when it comes to exercise may differ depending on your pool of participants. If you are not sure please contact us and we can help you decide.
Drugs
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Any projects involving drugs or drug testing are Significant Risk. Definition of a “drug”: “drug” includes any substance or mixture of substances manufactured, sold, or represented for use in: the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder, abnormal physical state, or its symptoms, in humans or animals, restoring, correcting, or modifying organic functions in humans beings or animals; disinfection in premises in which food is manufactured, prepared or kept. Drugs may be used in any experiment exhibited at a Science Fair only if carried out in a Hospital, University, Medical or other similar Laboratory under the direction of a Scientific Supervisor. The study must be approved by the appropriate Scientific Review Committee that reviews the research at the Institution, and this must be documented by a letter that accompanies the Research Plan sent to the WMSF for approval. No other studies involving the use of Drugs on human participants, as defined above by Federal Regulations, may be exhibited at the Science Fair. No illegal drugs are permitted under any circumstances.
Invasive Procedures and Bodily Tissues
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Invasive procedures, such as taking blood or tissue samples, or use of human bodily tissue or other bodily fluids, are permitted in an experiment exhibited at a STEM fair only if carried out in a Hospital, University, Medical or other similar Laboratory under the direction of a Scientific Supervisor. The project must be approved by the appropriate Scientific Review Committee that reviews the research at the Institution, and this must be documented by a letter that accompanies the Research Plan sent to the WMSF for approval.