Health risks of darkroom chemicals

pentaxuser · Nov 20, 2014

OptiKen said:
Darkroom chemicals can definitely be injurious to your health.
I can't tell you how many times my wife has threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't put the bathroom back in order after finishing with my printing.

Nice one and superb timing, sir, if I may say so.

pentaxuser

ParkerSmithPhoto · Nov 20, 2014

mporter012 said:
I bring this up mainly because I've had some sinus congestion while in the darkroom and some lightheadedness and occasionally a headache. I haven't been all that careful when touching chemicals, so I hope I don't gets brain tumor or something next year.

My big irritant is stop bath, which I dilute way down until there is practically no smell. For years I'd mix that stuff at the recommended dilution and it always gave me some respiratory discomfort.

Rapid fix does not seem to bother me at all.

Mainecoonmaniac · Nov 20, 2014

I've heards 30 years ago that Ed Weston had Parkinson's from is careless use of pyro developer. Don't know for a fact.

MartinP · Nov 20, 2014

I can imagine that some ignorant and scared person, with no environmental awareness, will be working carelessly in their darkroom wearing cotton gloves and a carnival-mask, believing that they are totally protected as they read it on Apug . . .

cliveh · Nov 20, 2014

ParkerSmithPhoto said:
My big irritant is stop bath, which I dilute way down until there is practically no smell. For years I'd mix that stuff at the recommended dilution and it always gave me some respiratory discomfort.

Rapid fix does not seem to bother me at all.

I would agree that in the scheme of normal photographic chemicals, stop bath is the worst and I also mix it to quite high dilutions so I can stick my fingers in it and breathe without harm.

cowanw · Nov 20, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Very fair question. I got this from the head of the photo department, he got one (brain tumor), he was told specifically that it was caused by the selenium toner he was using. He survived, but was very verbal about being ultra cautious when using them because of his experience.

He probably used dandruff shampoo. Imagine putting Selenium right on your head.

fotch · Nov 20, 2014

I started using in the fifties and its made me old, ugly, & sometimes stupid.

mporter012 · Nov 20, 2014

I didn't intend to receive such an array of responses! Thanks for taking the time to respond and share some links.

pentaxuser · Nov 20, 2014

Like a lot of other males in their late teens in the mid 60s I had tried everything to cure dandruff without success. Then someone told me about stuff called Selsun which despite having selenium as a base ingredient I used a lot with great effect.

I am unaware of experiencing any adverse consequences.

pentaxuser

RattyMouse · Nov 20, 2014

cliveh said:
I would agree that in the scheme of normal photographic chemicals, stop bath is the worst and I also mix it to quite high dilutions so I can stick my fingers in it and breathe without harm.

Citric acid stop bath.....odorless.

Wayne · Nov 20, 2014

Edward Weston is the only reason anyone has mentioned pyro and Parkinson's in the same sentence. Weston used pyro and had Parkinson's, that's all the proof needed for our science-deficient "information" society. The only problem is people can't tell good information from bad.

Truzi · Nov 20, 2014

Didn't Weston also use dihydrogen monoxide?

MartinP · Nov 20, 2014

I've been using photographic materials for about forty years and now my hair is going grey. It must be the fault of the chemicals, surely?

StoneNYC · Nov 20, 2014

cowanw said:
He probably used dandruff shampoo. Imagine putting Selenium right on your head.

I use dandruff shampoo every day, there's no selenium on the bottle ingredients

JW PHOTO · Nov 20, 2014

StoneNYC said:
I use dandruff shampoo every day, there's no selenium on the bottle ingredients

Then you're not using the good stuff Stone! If you're using the good stuff your teeth will turn from white to a slight "eggplant purple".

StoneNYC · Nov 20, 2014

JW PHOTO said:
Then you're not using the good stuff Stone! If you're using the good stuff your teeth will turn from white to a slight "eggplant purple".

Redken brand is much higher quality than selsun blue...

JW PHOTO · Nov 20, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Redken brand is much higher quality than selsun blue...

Stone, Redken might be higher quality, but it won't tone your teeth that nice plum-purple-eggplant shade.

StoneNYC · Nov 21, 2014

JW PHOTO said:
Stone, Redken might be higher quality, but it won't tone your teeth that nice plum-purple-eggplant shade.

Oh darn, I feel taken advantage of now! Lol

Truzi · Nov 21, 2014

I don't believe all versions of Selsun Blue have selenium either - many ways to be anti-dandruff.

Speaking of Parkinson’s, a city near me had reported in the 1990s an higher rate of Parkinson's per capita than the national average (my grand-aunt lived there and developed Parkinson's). This city had many things neighboring cities didn't, and an excess of photo labs was NOT one of them. I won't speculate, as we already see where this thread has gone in that respect.

My point is, there are many reasons things happen, and a correlation is NOT a cause-effect relationship.

Speed Gray · Nov 21, 2014

Unless you have a acute sensitivity to inhalation or contact, for most of us the chemicals are not harmful, even after years of exposure. I worked in the printing industry my entire life, many years handling type metal (lead). We were taught to use common sense: don't stick your fingers in you mouth, and was your hands before you handled food or ate.

Speed Gray, K8SG
Grand Rapids, MI

removed account4 · Nov 21, 2014

truzi

it wasn't seltstun blue it was eastman kodak that sold the best dandrufstuff ... but it was a rinse ... not a shampoo
you bought the kit from them, and i think it only took a quick rinse, after your main-shampooing
it only worked on people with extremely dark hair or white hair though, and people who were "salt n'peppa" turning grey
not only did it get rid of dandruf it also changed the color of the hair a little bit ... depending on the dilution and rinse time.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/g23/g23.pdf

c6h6o3 · Nov 21, 2014

Wayne said:
Edward Weston is the only reason anyone has mentioned pyro and Parkinson's in the same sentence. Weston used pyro and had Parkinson's, that's all the proof needed for our science-deficient "information" society. The only problem is people can't tell good information from bad.

He also put his ungloved hands in amidol, which is also a phenolic compound, for decades. Either one, neither one or both could have caused his Parkinson's. Coincidence does not prove causality. Only a carefully controlled experiment does that.

Old-N-Feeble · Nov 21, 2014

I had my hands in photo chemistry since age 13 but far more working for Uncle Sam which was pretty much my entire photo career. I've often wondered...

DREW WILEY · Nov 21, 2014

People are generally careless unless someone either specifically points out or legally mandates and monitors the risk. I can remember when people were calling asbestos harmless, and even have a neighbor who was once a pipeline painter, ended up for two years in the hospital at the age of 50, and could never work since, because anyone who wore respiratory filtration was called a sissie back then. Gosh knows how many "artistes" I seen become terribly ill over the years. But yeah, there is profound difference between something like metol, which might lead to skin rash, and something like chromium salts, often used in alt processes. The hazards of "pyro" are pretty well known industrially, so it doesn't surprise me at all that certain photographers might have gotten messed up by it back in the naive pre-glove days. Nuclear fallout was considered innocuous at one time too. I happen to sell tremendous amounts of EPA-certified cleanup equipment to certain trades. A lot of this is legally mandated these days, and there are always a few macho boneheads objecting to it, or trying to form
a lobby to get the rules shut down. Those types either don't live long, or lose everything resembling a quality life, health wise, or end up
ruining someone else's health, possibly their own wife or children. I've seen it over and over and over. Better safe than sorry.

Karl A · Nov 21, 2014

Since people are mentioning shampoos, I noticed Head & Shoulders clinical strength has 1% selenium sulfide. Which I assume is safe for contact with one's scalp. But more interestingly can you tone prints with it?

In all seriousness though, why touch something you don't need to? Better to be safe than sorry.

Health risks of darkroom chemicals

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