Chemical nastiness

[Jack Winberg <jwinberg1@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi There:

The dermatological vulnerability to chemicals is twofold:

1.  The immediate toxicity that a given substance possesses

2.  The allergic hypersensitivity than an individual may develop over time, 
with repeated exposure

Pulmonary problems could arise with any fume or aerosolized substance.

The highly alkaline B&W developers were notorious for causing 
hypersensitivity reactions, and acetic acid (stop bath) caused pulmonary 
reactions, as did fixer.  The color chemicals had the dubious distinction 
of contributing to ALL of them.  Some poor souls had to retreat from 
darkroom work entirely.

I LIKE the clean and light "digital darkroom", with it's wonderful image 
control.  Still, if one yearns for "hands on and in".... .  :-)

Jack Winberg

At 10:50 AM 12/27/01 +0000, Kennedy wrote:
>I don't believe the hazard from conventional black & white chemicals is 
>significant - it is a lot more dangerous breathing the fixer fumes than 
>putting your hands in the developer or fixer, providing you wash them 
>immediately afterwards.  Colour chemicals are a completely different 
>matter though.


-
Turn off HTML mail features. Keep quoted material short. Use accurate
subject lines. http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions.