Chemical Rash ... Where from?

[Kirk Keyes]

Apparently some leather shoes are tanned with methyl mercury.

Methylmercury was not used for tanning per se, but as a fungicide. And it is no longer used in this manner, probably not for decades... Nowadays is has limited laboratory use.

Your most likely expsoure to methymercury now is from eating fish like tuna, shark, or pike... They bioaccumulate methyl mercury that anaerobic bacteria have made by converting inorganic mercury.

 

[Gerald Koch]

Usually all this toxic effect of Metol is in fact a skin reaction on trace amounts of p-phenylenediamine and N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine present in commercial Metol preparations. Both substances are used (were used) in colour chemistry, and both are VERY bad for health. And they can be found in any Metol just because of its way of commercial synthesis.

While this was true some decades ago the current synthesis of Metol no longer uses p-phenylenediamine as the starting material. However, some people are allergic to the Metol itself.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Many of the accomplished people I would refer you to have checked in here already.

Someone suggested Rodinal, and you are already using it. Have you tried it with the high dilutions?

Everyone seems to agree Caffenol is just plain offensive to the senses, so I can't imagine it becoming a routine developer of choice, and I'm not sure it works on paper.

I haven't found the article yet, only mention of it, but someone found that mint tea can be used as a developer...based on how hard it has been to find the article, there must fewer people having success with it than people using Caffenol. Caffenol+C is about twice as fast, but I don't know if it stinks half as much.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

Just to rule out photographic chemicals entirely, try setting up a darkroom session with just water, and go through the entire ritual, for the normal amount of time that you spend in the darkroom. This would include all the gloves and tongs and gear, but just shuffle dummy film or paper between trays or tanks for a while. Then see how you react the next day. If your skin still breaks out, then its not the chemicals directly, but something else - environmental, ventillation, latex, excessive prespiration, etc.

If you do the above control test and don't have any adverse reaction, then try repeating the experiment but with only one of your three chemicals; use water for the other two. In time, you should be able to narrow down the source of irritation.

Good luck and keep us posted.

~Joe