My incomplete understanding of the issue is that the film itself includes a chemical that is now restricted, and its development results in development byproducts that are particular to developing that film, and are the source of the concern.
Other emulsions don't include the restricted substance.
Even though the amount of banned chemical content is extremely small, the regulation itself is a blanket one, and nobody has the staffing or time to fine-tune its exact parameters over ridiculously tiny exemptions relative to the big picture. The odds of any given lab getting accosted by a now highly crippled defunded EPA doesn't mean state or urban regulators can't get involved as an excuse over some other kind of zoning grudge or whatever. But that kind of risk must be assessed by the businesses themselves. I just wonder how long Fuji chrome film will be available at all.
Even though the amount of banned chemical content is extremely small, the regulation itself is a blanket one, and nobody has the staffing or time to fine-tune its exact parameters over ridiculously tiny exemptions relative to the big picture. The odds of any given lab getting accosted by a now highly crippled defunded EPA doesn't mean state or urban regulators can't get involved as an excuse over some other kind of zoning grudge or whatever. But that kind of risk must be assessed by the businesses themselves. I just wonder how long Fuji chrome film will be available at all.
It's not easy to attract an effective class-action lawsuit unless there's a lot of money in it for the law firm itself. Think of all the truly nasty chemicals which go into electronics and biotech effluent. They have their own big legal departments.
I think the ingredient was already banned in the EU. That would trigger suspicion on this side of the pond too. A mere case of individual sickness could easily be attributed to sensitization or careless handling - which would potentially apply to every kind of color development! Lots of people have developed hyper-sensitivity to RA4 chem, for example, or Ciba bleach.... not to mention metol, which can be thought of as powdered poison oak in a jar once one gets sensitized.
But I was walking around a local lake a couple days ago and encountered a big rental herd of goats behind a portable electric fence, chomping down poison oak leaves as if it were butter lettuce salad, and even eating thorny wild blackberry vines. Maybe those goats should be hired for photo lab work as well.
A person claiming they got sick from a banned chemical is not a class action lawsuit, and may not be a successful lawsuit, but the prospect of a lawsuit could be enough to keep small labs without herds of goat lawyers on retainer from taking that chance.
A person claiming they got sick from a banned chemical is not a class action lawsuit, and may not be a successful lawsuit, but the prospect of a lawsuit could be enough to keep small labs without herds of goat lawyers on retainer from taking that chance.