Digital BW, The Print

Well, we'll never know exactly what contrubuted to Weston's parkinsons. I know he wrote 
in his daybooks that "I"ve only done this to mysef". I have no idea what he meant by that. 
None of this discounts the genus of his work or his global contribution in the way he did 
more with less.

Most likely it was a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Weston did not take 
precautions and did not use gloves or a mask and probably didn't have decent ventelaion 
either. He was a strict vegetarian ,sometimes living on avacados, so his immune system 
could have been weak too. I don't know. But there is no doubting the toxic effects of 
developer agents, especially but not limited to  Pyro. We all react to these things 
differently. I have had students that break out in a major rash with just a brief exposure to 
Dektol. Some people can't even be around hypo without getting sick. Everyone is different.

They guy who said he "bathed" in gasoline in his work is walking a tightrope. I have a 
friend who is an ex house painter and he did the same. He ended up at 40 with liver 
cancer and he and his doctors know exactly what caused it, gasoline. My brother IS a 
scientist, a biologist, and he told me that even one big intense exposere to pure gasoline 
where it is absorbed into the blood stream has been shown to give people cancer. 

Todd Walker, who was a friend of Westons, used to tell me to be careful. "You guys know a 
lot more about this stuff than we did back in the 40's and 50's". He didn't say get out of 
the darkroom, he said use judgement and protect yourself with gloves and good 
ventilation at al times.

If I can avoid it alltogether, I will.

John





--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Djon" <westsidemaurice@y...> 
wrote:
> 
> I am personally hooked by this topic because my most important photo
> teacher, CF, a student of Minor White, died of Parkinsons at a very
> young age. 
> 
> My father also died of Parkinsons, but he was never significantly
> involved with photo chemistry. 
> 
> I always associated CF's Parkinsons with pyro though I don't actually
> know if he used it at Rochester...by the time I met him he already had
> advanced Parkinsons (at 33!) and only shot Kodachrome. 
> 
> My mother, an accomplished photo/darkroom enthusiast in the 30s/40s,
> told me about Margaret Bourke-White's death from Parkinsons, calling
> it "photographers' disease." I don't know if Bourke-White used pyro.
> 
> Westons'fingernails, not his hands, were the famous telltale pyro
> black...this wasn't just a stain. 
> 
> **What was most convincing to me was the similarity I saw in a set of
> Ciba photomicroscopy prints in a Seattle exhibit in the mid-80s: Nerve
> tissue damaged in one case by what I recall as "pyrogallic acid"  and
> nerve tissue of a Parkinsons victim. The day I saw those photos I
> called the MD who was featured in "The Case of the Frozen Addict" and
> informed him. He'd not known the long-rumored association between this
> photo chemical and his discovery of chemically induced Parkinsons.
> 
> "Pyrogallic acid" MAY share chemical characteristics with the botched
> Ectacy (designer drug) that produced Parkinsons Syndrome documented in
> the Nova production called "The Case of the Frozen Addict." 
> 
> http://www.parkinson.org/site/pp.asp?c=9dJFJLPwB&b=100132
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Peter De Smidt
> <pdesmidt@T...> wrote:
> > john dean wrote:
> > 
> > >Edward used the extremely toxic 
> > >developer Pyro for his negatives and the equally nasty  Amidol for
> his prints. 
> > >His hands turned black from using this stuff and it eventually
> killed him, 
> > >destroyed his nervous system, long before he should have left this
> earth. 
> > >  
> > >
> > Hi John,
> > 
> > I was unaware that there is a proven link between pyrogallic acid, 
> > amidol and parkenson's disease. Perhaps John could cite some references?
> > 
> > I agree, though, with the sentiment that traditional darkroom workers 
> > (and everyone else for that matter) should avoid toxic substances
> unless 
> > absolutely necessary.  Luckily there are lots of environmentally benign 
> > darkroom formulas. (I use a vitamin c/phenidone developer, ascorbic
> acid 
> > stop bath....) 
> > 
> > -Peter De Smidt
> > www.desmidt.net