First of all everything is dangerous. Don't drink the stuff. Don't take a
bath in it. Some developers use Ascorbic Acid [Vitamin C] in place of
Hydroquine. That should be safer.

      I'll bet your house is full of stuff more dangerous then your
photochemicals. The important thing is safe handling.

        Nick

Hydroquinone is considered a carcinogen now. It has been used, and still be used, widely.
If you don't put constantly your hands in liquid developers, don't breathe the dust from powder
developers and work in a ventilated area, I consider these risks close to nil ...
Hydroquinone is not the only hazardous chemical in a darkroom but using simple prevention habits
limits the risk to the minimum.
By the way, I'm sure you have household products that are certainly more dangerous than the great
majority of the common photographic chemicals.

There are developers more environment friendly like the developers using Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
as main development agent.
The most common is XTol, used for films and this a great developer, my favourite for nearly all
films from low to medium-high sensitivity.
For papers, Agfa Neutol Plus also uses Vitamin C.
These not the only ones.
There are also formulas on the web using Vitamin C if you want to mix them from scratch, just do a
Google search.

Un salutone,

I am neither a chemist, an environmentalist or a doctor but here is my
personal take and opinion, backed up by 30 years in the darkroom.  MSDS
sheets are written by lawyers and are full of "CYA" (Cover Your A**).
There are MSDS sheets for water and Oxygen both of which are essential for
life but that can be hazardous when used incorrectly.  And that new items
get added to the mutagenic and carcinogenic lists all the time.  Here is a
link to a "worst case" MSDS for Dihydrogen Monoxide (aka water)
http://www.hsegroup.com/hse/text/water.htm

Having said that, keep in mind that if you limit your exposure to these
substances you should be OK, Hydroquinone is used in some topical skin
cremes but the MSDS warns about skin exposure!  Metol used to be considered
the "baddie", older literature had a lot to say about "metol poisoning" it's
been found the problem was caused by impurities rather than Metol.

I use tongs when processing prints but will reach into a tray when a print
gets stuck, I just wash my hands after I do it.  I don't smoke (talk about
your carcinogens!) and advise against smoking in the darkroom, other than
the smoke film on everything in the darkroom there's that whole hand to
mouth thing.  I won't eat in the darkroom either for the same
reason--besides a break to get a snack in the middle of a session is smart
anyway--gets you out into fresh air for a few minutes.

So here are my rules:

Don't eat, drink or smoke in the darkroom.  If you smoke, you've already
been exposed to more carcinogens that you will experience in a lifetime in
the darkroom.  Probably also true if you eat a lot of red meat or barbeque!

Use tongs for prints.

Frequently wash your hands!  If you wear gloves, wash them frequently, too.

Mix chemicals in another room, the dust is bad for you and your sensitized
materials, too.

Mix chemicals from liquid concentrates or if you mix from dry or bulk
components wear a simple dust mask; a respirator and good ventilation is
recommended for strong organic compounds like acetic acid.

Use eye protection, gloves and a mask when mixing.

Understand and use all chemical handling precautions, read the product
labels, always add acids to water not the reverse, dilution of strong acids
and bases require special techniques and extra care; Glacial Acetic acid,
concentrated ammonia and sodium/potassium hydroxide are especially nasty and
should not be attempted without understanding the extra precautions
required.  Be especially careful when compounding old formulas that use
heavy metals or really toxic, nasty metallic salts.  Mercury, selenium
metal, mercuric chloride, sodium dichromate (or bichromate in old
literature) come to mind but there's a lot of other nasty chemicals out
there, too.  There are a lot of really good chemists that are on this list
(much better than me) if in doubt query the group.

Wipe down your counters and clean your equipment immediately, whenever you
use it, clean your counters after mixing chemicals, clean up all spills
immediately, chemicals in solution are much easier to clear up than dried-on
crud.

Install good ventilation.

Don't even think about using a mercury thermometer!

Take frequent breaks away from the darkroom.

Have GFCI outlets installed in your darkroom and adequate safelighting.

Rubber floor mats are non-slip and good for your feet and back.  Clean them
frequently and the floor beneath your mats.

If you MUST use safer products try Xtol film developer or others made with
ascorbic acid/sodium ascorbate, D-23 uses only Metol no hydroquinone, use
citric acid stop baths (or none), use alkaline fixers or fixers made from
sodium thiosulfate rather than ammonium.  Paper developers with phenidone
rather than Metol (Ilford Bromophen or Multigrade Developer come to mind).

Here's a very simple mix-it-yourself formula using harmless chemicals,
similar to commercial developers such as Xtol or Agfa Neutol.  All the
chemicals you can get at your local hardware store or supermarket.  I've
been using this formula for Delta-400, Delta-100, Fuji ACROS 100 and
Fuji Neopan with outstanding results:

6 g. Sodium carbonate  (this is a common chemical used in dishwasher
detergents or marketed as Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, if that's available
in Italy.)  Alternatively, you can buy it from any chemical supply
house.  It's also sold in swimming pool supply stores as "pH Plus" or
something similar.

4 g. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) powder or crystals, available in any
natural food or health food store.

4 ml. 1% Phenidone solution  (dissolve 1 g Phenidone powder--the only
chemical you must buy from a proper chemical supply place-- in 100 ml of
90% alcohol.)  Phenidone will dissolve in water, but it takes longer.  
The alcohol preserves it well, and a 100 ml bottle will last months.

1 liter of water.

At 22 degrees Celsius, Delta 100 or Fuji ACROS or Fuji Neopan will
develop in approximately 7 minutes.  You may have to experiment a bit to
find the best time for you.  I rate those films at one stop less than
their manufacturer-recommended speed, so Delta 100 at ISO 50, etc.

For Delta 400, you may want to substitute borax for the sodium carbonate
or your times may be too short.  With borax, Delta 400 will take
approximately 8 minutes; with carbonate, approximately 5.

I lived in Paris for a long time, and had no trouble getting any of
these chemicals.  I would assume they're equally available in Italy,
though perhaps in different packaging or under different brand names.  
But all are friendly to humans and the environment.

Cheers,
Larry

Beppe Alborè wrote:

RE: Beppe Alborè wrote:

If you must, rinse. I would'nt go so far as to
say "wash".
My advise, be up-wind when working with powders.
It's a rare, exotic brew which contains or uses toxic,
skull and crossbones, chemistry. I've one in stock,
sodium selenite. The words TOXIC and Fatal are on
the label.
Of more concern are fumes, more so than in previous
times due to the increase in asthma. To do without the
fumes and oder, use a neutral to alkaline process.  Dan

RE: Beppe Alborè wrote:

Read all about it! Search this NG for, infirmary . Also,
I'm a bad speller, search for, infirmiry .          Dan

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 15:19:15 GMT, "Beppe Alborè"
<joker-artist@libero.it> wrote:

dec2404 from Lloyd Erlick,

It is very easy to avoid bodily contact with any
chemical used in an ordinary darkroom, especially a
black and white darkroom.

I use the single-tray method of working for making FB
prints, and I never have the least touch of chemistry
on my skin, without gloves or skin-protection creams.

Regular darkroom chemicals are used in water solution,
so they will cannot jump out and get you. Sometimes a
gas may be formed, but the gases involved are smelly,
so they are clear when they are present, and they are
not unduly dangerous if ventilation is used. It's easy
to avoid drinking or eating the chemicals, so with all
modes of transport into the body cut off, even
dangerous chemicals couldn't cause harm.

Substances like hydroquinone need not be feared, so
long as one is not breathing hydroquinone powder/dust
or stirring it into one's coffee (bet you couldn't
swallow it anyway!!) Hydroquinone is likely more of a
problem at the manufacturing end where workers must
handle large amounts day after day. A regular darkroom
worker who keeps hands out of the solutions will not be
likely to suffer from contact.

regards,
--le

On 12/23/2004 7:19 AM Beppe Alborè spake thus:

Speaking of hydroquinone, do y'all realize that this is the chemical agent
thought to be responsible for Michael Jackson's death pallor?

- http://itsb.ucsf.edu/~vcr/Freeze2b.html *
- http://www.snopes.com/photos/jackson.asp
- http://www.robertkotlermd.com/people_news.htm

* actually, they say it's "a cream containing monobenzyl ether of
hydroquinone (also called benoquin)"

I suggest Xtol for film and Agfa Neutol Plus for paper. Both are
Phenidone and Ascorbic acid developers with very low toxicity and good
environmental properties.
Xtol is sometimes subject to short term loss of activity. I've had
this happen recently. However, I don't know of another film developer
with only these ingredients. Most other Phenidone film developers also
contain hydroquinone. Hydroquinone is not particularly hazardous in a
photographic developer but has environmental problems.
In general, liquid concentrate developers are less hazardous than
powdered ones because they eliminate the danger of airborne particles.
There are a number of good liquid concentrate film developers on the
market, Kodak T-Max and T-Max RS being among them. Both use a form of
Phenidone and Hydroquinone.  Agfa Neutol Plus is a liquid concentrate.
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com