Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/11/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]hi Mark and thanks, I am reading some of the current information and warnings...Back when I worked in a photo darkroom in a very amateurish way, 40 years ago, there was no particular concern, no warnings, I took no special precautions, 'cus the general feeling was that risk was low and seemingly non-existent... at that time, the idea that the chemicals either by contact or by inhalation were inherently toxic, never dawned, was not at issue, even though I was a professor at that time on a medical school faculty, and trained in depth in biochemistry, molecular biology, microbial genetics... I have survived the intervening time without any obvious damage, but my exposures were surely minimal compared to many. One has to think of the possible analogy with the story of Marie and Pierre Curie who won Nobel prizes for their work with radioactive compounds, but who had no idea of the associated serious risks, and suffered from these...at least severe burns, and Marie's death from aplastic anemia. (Pierre died prematurely from a fractured skull after a street acident). So all this talk about toxicity and precautions is an eye opener for me, and the concerns are admittedly tainted by the self serving overreaction of regulatory agencies, as usual "a day late and a dollar short"... Steve On Nov 5, 2009, at 2:58 AM, Mark Rabiner wrote: >> >> On Nov 4, 2009, at 7:16 PM, Richard Man wrote: >> >>> What are you? A doctor?!!! >> >> >> yes, but..... >> >> I am reading all this stuff... >> >> >> http://www.subclub.org/darkroom/safety.htm >> > > > " Use tubes instead of trays for all processing. " > Wildly delusional and totally out of the loupe would be thus my > opinion on > the subclub. > Fiber doesn't work with tubes and if they did you'd still not want > to use > them. > Use rubber gloves with trays and you'll do fine making an effort to > not > smell the powders. If you know what it smells like its already > entered your > body. (Dektol vs. Hypo) Make sure you don't know. Know by reading not > smelling. > > Most people who have had darkroom problems come from a generation > (The 60's > and before) where they used their hands not tongs and nobody cared > about > stuff like not breathing powders. Arthritis was what a lot of these > guys > seemed to have gotten from no tongs. Rarely anything else. > 1 in 1000 gets Metol / Elon reactions. They need to stay out of the > darkroom > but maybe go with Phenidone. > Its the people who experimenting in alternate processes who run into > trouble. > Gum Bichromate. potassium dichromate is nasty stuff. > Platinum printing maybe I think I heard will do you in if your > stupid. > > But since the 70's at a college darkroom they made you be careful. > That's when I switched from my hands to tongs. > > > Mark William Rabiner > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information