from what i have read there seems to be heavy regulation on chemicals in the EU
and it doesn't seem that many of our EU photography friends have stopped making traditional photographs
( traditional going back to arcane and dangerous and toxic practices of the mid 1800s ) .. i know when i went to a
photography store a handful of years ago when i was looking for fixer, all i had to do was find a photo-store in a big city
and they had paper, film and chemistry, and like in the states, finding a store that sold chemistry seemed a bit hard to find.
with regards to the ignorance of photographers and morons, there are plenty of them, and it just takes a couple blurting out nonsense
about how xyz isn't bad for you, its ok to dispose of abc any way you want blah blah blah for people to see the words
not look any further and mix bad-stuff in the kitchen make their family sick, or polute the stream behind their house, or their well ..
on the same note, it isn't hard to find people who have no idea how to do wiring or plumbing to "code" and find that their house full of CO or burned down because
of bad wiring either ... some may claim we don't need regulations or code &c and those folks werne't meant to survive ( darwinian evolution and all that )
but as i said, im all for regulations and sometimes i wish there MORE Of them, for example, photo stores that sell darkroom chemistry should be required by law
to accept used/spent chemistry for reclamation and disposal, like stores were required to do when they sold CF bulbs to assure mercury wouldn't end up in the landfill.