Digital BW, The Print

All that stuff about Weston is very romantic but not
true. I have had a B&W darkroom for more than 35 years
developed 8x10 tri-x in a tray for many years.Yes my
finger nails were black, a badge of honor.B&W
chemicals are very low in toxicity.I have used amidol
a lot,but not pyro.The one chemical I new not to get
on my fingers was of course selenium.I new a guy that
put his hands in hypo and they swelled up
instantly.Some people die from eating aspirin.I am 59
and alive and well.The toxicity of B&W chemicals are
not the reason I don't use a wet darkroom
anymore.Francis Ford
--- Djon <westsidemaurice@...> wrote:
> 
>  
> > There is absolutely no scientific evidence of a
> link between the
> chemicals Weston used and Parkinson's disease.
> Plenty of people used
> pyro and amidol back then and many still do today,
> none of whom have
> died of Parkinson's disease as far as I know. < 
> 
> Certainly some have died of Parkinson's. Weston,
> just mentioned (!),
> and Margaret Bourke-White (Life Magazine) are
> certainties.  
> 
> There are MANY flavors of Parkinsons (not one
> disease but a
> constellation of symptoms), some of which are
> commonly thought to be
> genetic, some caused directly by chemicals. 
> 
> Some of those chemicals might MOST logically be
> those of
> photographers: Who else carelessly spends
> significant time with hands
> in contact with easily absorbed toxic chemicals? 
> 
> Yes, of course rubber gloves and good ventilation
> may create safety
> (except for poisoning the water table that our
> neighbors share), but
> many of us have not been that careful. 
> 
> If you wear a lead gloves you can handle radium,
> nothing to worry about...
> 
> Somebody *invariably" cries "no scientific evidence"
> when someone
> raises the Pyro/Parkinsons question or express the
> belief. Those
> kneejerk denials are also themselves urban legends
> and are inherently
> dangerous: It's better to ignorantly fear a known
> toxic chemical than
> it is to trust it.  
> 
> Of course no "scientific link" has been established!
> Nobody has a
> vested interest in the chemical and hardly anybody
> even touches it,
> probably due to its dark legend. We won't know if
> there's a
> "scientific" link because there will never be a
> study...just the
> perhaps-sometimes-substantive anecdotes and the
> equally naieve
> automatic denials (originating mostly on the
> Internet and in photo
> classes).
> 
> The grownups among us may remember that the tobacco
> companies invested
> literally billions in false advertising and
> political bribes to
> convince us that there was "no scientific evidence"
> linking tobacco
> and lung cancer. 
> 
> Lack of "scientific evidence" is not meaningful
> information.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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