Darkroom health problem

[Daniel_OB]

“… darkroom shortened life to many photographers,…”

I think that chemicals cause most problems to kidney, but not sure.
Anyone here with knowledge about this problem?

www.Leica-R.com

 

[Eric Rose]

I've not seen any creditable longterm studies that support this hypothesis. But if there are any issues I would assume it's more like liver damage from to much scotch and deafness from load stereos.

 

[Daniel_OB]

Eric, I would like your right. Might about the problem came from old time. I just do not now anything about that problem. Many photogs aged 100 but they also walked a lot....

 

[Robert Hall]

Let's keep in mind as well, that there are many out there that haven't the slightest idea on how to safely handle chemicals in the darkroom.

Some of the most significant steps to safety are often overlooked due to laziness or lack of knowledge.

Most chemicals in the darkroom are not that dangerous but many can develop sensitivities due to over contact.

 

[Akki14]

Only thing I ever heard about in my studies was - wear gloves. It'll save you getting dermatitis later on in life(due to the aforementioned sensitivity due to over-contact). The nasty sort that would mean you'd never see a darkroom again. Lovely university students hoping to make a career in darkroom activities, of course, listened closely to this advice (digi only ever came up for about 4-6weeks of my Foundation programme and never in the 3-4 months of the BA Photography degree I started was in relation to digi).

Having said that, my uncle seems to have some health problems but he's worked at a colour processing lab (the kind all the supermarkets send their stuff to) for many decades and I wouldn't pinpoint it to the lab enviroment.

 

[jp80874]

One doctor thought the lungs could be made worse by exposure to us. I bought my Saunders 4550 XLG from a guy who bought it from Badger locally, had the tech set it up, just as the buyer developed a lung problem. I don't have more detail. His doctor said that he should never go in the darkroom and add the chemicals to his problems. Four years later he gave up waiting for recovery, sold me the unblemished enlarger, lenses, etc. and went digi.
I put in quite an exhaust system hoping never to have that problem.

John Powers

 

[Mark_S]

Lung problems do not make sense to me - lung issues would come from dust, and the darkroom is probably the most dust free room in our home. Perhaps from mixing chemicals from dry - but taking some precautions there should make that a non-issue. My wife is a fibre artist, and the chemicals that she uses for dying and processing of fabrics seem far worse than what we photographers use, and many of the fibre processes are centuries old - yet you don't hear of health problems attributed to the chemicals involved in that.

Still - I would love to see any creditable study done on the issue.

 

[Paul.]

I have a friend aged 84 who learned to print Black and White at the age of 8, was a profesional photographer all his working life and untill 2years ago taught photography at night school. Yes at 84 he has health problems, none of which he attributes to the darkroom. Be sencible no problem.

Regards Paul.

 

[MikeSeb]

The only agents i've ever heard associated with any significant health problems were some of the toners (which contain heavy metals), metol (allergic contact dermatitis, not lethal), and the pyro's.

The latter are associated with kidney and liver toxicity; I am an anesthesiologist, not a toxicologist, so I do not know how much pyrogallol or pyrocatechol it takes, for how many years, to cause harm.

It's advisable to avoid inhaling pyro dust, so mix it wearing gloves and a high-filtration mask or under a ventilation hood. Other than that, not drinking anything you also put your film into is about the only precaution you need to take--and you could probably even get away with that if you could stand the taste.

Health hazards from darkroom chemicals need to be put into perspective; as health risks they pale in comparison with those from smoking and obesity.

 

[radiantdarkroom]

Isn't photography worth dying for? Driving a car is 1000 times more dangerous than the photo chemicals you might smell.

 

[George Papantoniou]

The oxalates used for Pt/Pd printing (Ferric Oxalate, potassium oxalate) can cause kidney problems if inhaled or ingested.

 

[Jim Noel]

My understanding is that when Ansel died he had willed an autopsy. This was done and there was no sign of photographic chemicals having caused a problem.

 

[Struan Gray]

A few years ago the Swedish professional photographers' association did an in-depth occupational health survey of their members. Two consistent problems showed up. The first was contact dermatitis and other allergies to developer agents, especially metol. The second was cronic back and neck problems from using shoulder bags to carry heavy gear.

Some people are just unlucky and are sensitive to things others can bathe in, but for the most part if you keep your hands out of the soup, and use a rucksack, photography won't damage your body.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I think the "myth" (relatively speaking) of the hazards of photo chemistry comes from the earliest days of the Daguerrotypists working with mercury vapors. THAT will kill you, over time. Even then, though, it takes 30-40 years of sniffing mercury vapors on a daily basis to work its harm. Most modern stuff is relatively harmless by comparison. As noted previously, keep your hands out of the soup and don't drink the leftovers and you'll be fine. The toxins in Pyro will give you short-term symptoms (tingling sensations, metallic taste in your mouth) long before permanent harm sets in. Yes, the oxalates are poisons, but they're naturally occuring, (Potassium Oxalate comes from Rhubarb - but you probably get more of it from eating Rhubarb pie than you do from handling pt/pd prints). And the good news is that at least with the PotOx, it doesn't stay in your body like the metals do.

 

[CBG]

I read somewhere a study of life expectancy and health of people in the photo/darkroom industries showed either average or slightly better statistics that the population as a whole.

Best,

C

 

[Loose Gravel]

My understanding is that when Ansel died he had willed an autopsy. This was done and there was no sign of photographic chemicals having caused a problem.

Jim, I've heard the same, that he was biopsied and they found nothing. I figure photography keeps me alive. Keeps my insanity at a tolerable level and dragging all this equipment everywhere is good exercise.

 

[Photo Engineer]

This comes up over and over.

The quote in the OP is unreferenced, but I can say that most of the photographers I know lived to be over 80, and only a very few died of what might even be suspected of being related to photography.

There were 2000+ of us in research at Kodak and we got frequent medical exams at Kodak's expense which showed up nothing significant. At the present time, any that suffer ailments find they come more from stress than anything else.

The average cause of death was normal for the size of the employee population of those using or making photographic chemicals.

I know of only one case of kidney problems and that was related to organic solvents rather than photographic chemicals. The person in question had an accidental spill of some rather toxic organic chemicals during transport, and suffered kidney failure a few years later. They were on dialysis and retired with a full medical retirement from EK with medical assistance (AFAIK). This was one of the rare events, so rare that most everyone knew of it.

PE