diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index a445ed1..62a451a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ jobs:
           python -m pip install -U setuptools
           python -m pip install -U wheel
           python -m pip install "numpy==${{ matrix.numpy-version }}"
+          python -m pip install -U pytest
           python -m pip install -U mypy
 
       - name: Install
diff --git a/quantities/registry.py b/quantities/registry.py
index 4f9f3c7..7603965 100644
--- a/quantities/registry.py
+++ b/quantities/registry.py
@@ -1,41 +1,50 @@
 """
 """
 
+import ast
 import re
-import builtins
 
 
 class UnitRegistry:
+    # Note that this structure ensures that UnitRegistry behaves as a singleton
 
     class __Registry:
 
         __shared_state = {}
+        whitelist = (
+            ast.Expression,
+            ast.Constant,
+            ast.Name,
+            ast.Load,
+            ast.BinOp,
+            ast.UnaryOp,
+            ast.operator,
+            ast.unaryop,
+        )
 
         def __init__(self):
             self.__dict__ = self.__shared_state
             self.__context = {}
 
         def __getitem__(self, string):
-            
-            # easy hack to prevent arbitrary evaluation of code
-            all_builtins = dir(builtins)
-            # because we have kilobytes, other bytes we have to remove bytes
-            all_builtins.remove("bytes")
-            # have to deal with octet as well
-            all_builtins.remove("oct")
-            # have to remove min which is short for minute
-            all_builtins.remove("min")
-            for builtin in all_builtins:
-                if builtin in string:
-                    raise RuntimeError(f"String parsing error for `{string}`. Enter a string accepted by quantities")
-
-            try:
-                return eval(string, self.__context)
-            except NameError:
+            # This approach to avoiding arbitrary evaluation of code is based on https://stackoverflow.com/a/11952618 
+            # by https://stackoverflow.com/users/567292/ecatmur
+            tree = ast.parse(string, mode="eval")
+            valid = all(isinstance(node, self.whitelist) for node in ast.walk(tree))
+            if valid:
+                try:
+                    item = eval(
+                        compile(tree, filename="", mode="eval"),
+                        {"__builtins__": {}},
+                        self.__context,
+                    )
+                except NameError:
+                    raise LookupError('Unable to parse units: "%s"' % string)
+                else:
+                    return item
+            else:
                 # could return self['UnitQuantity'](string)
-                raise LookupError(
-                    'Unable to parse units: "%s"'%string
-                )
+                raise LookupError('Unable to parse units: "%s"' % string)
 
         def __setitem__(self, string, val):
             assert isinstance(string, str)
diff --git a/quantities/tests/test_units.py b/quantities/tests/test_units.py
index 2bbbf93..1912a3a 100644
--- a/quantities/tests/test_units.py
+++ b/quantities/tests/test_units.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
+import pytest
+
 from .. import units as pq
 from .common import TestCase
 
+
 class TestUnits(TestCase):
 
     def test_compound_units(self):
@@ -30,3 +33,8 @@ def test_units_copy(self):
         self.assertQuantityEqual(pq.m.copy(), pq.m)
         pc_per_cc = pq.CompoundUnit("pc/cm**3")
         self.assertQuantityEqual(pc_per_cc.copy(), pc_per_cc)
+
+    def test_code_injection(self):
+        with pytest.raises(LookupError) as exc_info:
+            pq.CompoundUnit("exec(\"print('Hello there.')\\nprint('General Wasabi!')\")")
+            assert "Wasabi" in str(exc_info.value)