I mix my own chemicals now. It just worries me, because as of the recent
reports, the rates of cancer are rising. Would you know if exposure to
photographic chemicals, from the raw chemicals to the pre-packed chemicals
that we use, could trigger, or contribute to the development of cancer- -any
kind of cancer?
You can probably look up the MSDS information for the components in your developer, fixer, etc.
I'm not too worried about B&W chemistry. But there are tons of historically unusual chemicals all around you that are probably in some minor way contributing to this cancer "epidemic".
There are pollutants in the atmosphere, stuff sprayed on your clothing and furnishings (fire retardents, fluorescent dyes), in your laundry (fabric softeners, fluorescent whiteners, etc), plugged into your wall or hanging in your house (air fresheners with synthetic scent molecules), sprayed on your lawns (green drop, dandelion killer, mosquito killer, etc), in your drawers and cupboards and cars (controversial preservatives like BHT, byproducts of plastics manufacturing, etc), in your cosmetics, etc. One hypothesis I've heard is that there can be complex relationships between all of these environmental factors that may not show up in individual testing of the compounds (which are necessarily limited anyway - you can't do a 30 year comprehensive study on a compound that you've developed and have to put out on the market next year to recoup your R&D costs, nevermind consider all the possible interactions with other environmental or genetic factors).
Of course one other reason for higher cancer rates is that, thanks to medicine, people aren't dying as often from diseases that used to kill us much earlier.
In any case, I'm more worried about my constant exposure to things in laundry detergent, antibacterial soaps, air fresheners, various additives and preservatives, pesticides, atmospheric pollution (I live a few blocks from a major trucking route through the city, so I'm sucking benzene and particulate soot and all kinds of awesome stuff all the time), plastics byproducts, etc, than I am worried about my odd exposure to B&W chemistry.
