[Wheatfield]

I talked with a photographer who did his own darkroom prints for his photography business and he told me he touched too many prints in the development trays with his bare hands and now has permanent tinnitus in his ear. It all depends on your exposure level, your protection equipment, your skill using that equipment, and how much the chemical has been diluted.

It is better to be too safe than to find out you damaged your pipes in your home or even worse damaged your body.

Well, there is a leap of illogic if I've ever seen one.
Please cite a reliable source that shows that contact with photo chemicals causes tinnitus.
Here's a hint: I looked and didn't find any.
Contact dermatitis is a rare but known side effect of handling photo chemicals, but tinnitus?
You are guilty of a Correlation/Causation Fallacy on this one.

[Alex645]

From the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet):
Ilford Multigrade Developer: Hydroquinone: Carcinogen and Mutagen Category 3. Risk of serious damage to eyes. Very toxic to aquatic organisms.
Stop Bath: Irritant to eyes.
Hypam Fixer: Contact with acids liberates toxic gas. May cause harm to unborn child. May impair fertility. Risk of serious damage to eyes.

The silver in used fixer "...may cause a gray discoloration of the skin, hair and internal organs. Additional symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea."
Exposure to cobalt can lead to tinnitus.

https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/heavy-metal-poisoning/

Are there photo chems that use cobalt chloride? I know that cobalt (blue) and cadmium (yellow) are hazards for painters.

[y0chang]

Well, there is a leap of illogic if I've ever seen one.
Please cite a reliable source that shows that contact with photo chemicals causes tinnitus.
Here's a hint: I looked and didn't find any.
Contact dermatitis is a rare but known side effect of handling photo chemicals, but tinnitus?
You are guilty of a Correlation/Causation Fallacy on this one.

I am only telling you my anecdote and an cautionary tale.

If you don't believe me, you can ask Princeton.

Photography | Office of Environmental Health and Safety

"Most developers are moderately to highly toxic by ingestion, with ingestion of less than one tablespoon of compounds such as monomethyl-p-aminophenol sulfate, hydroquinone, or pyrocatechol being possibly fatal for adults. Symptoms include ringing in the ears (tinnitus), nausea, dizziness, muscular twitching, increased respiration, headache, cyanosis (turning blue from lack of oxygen) due to methemoglobinemia, delirium, and coma. With some developers, convulsions also can occur."

Now are you ingesting it no, but my acquaintance stated he had a lab where he was doing his own prints for his business which raised his exposure level by constant skin contact.

[Wheatfield]

I am only telling you my anecdote and an cautionary tale.

If you don't believe me, you can ask Princeton.

Photography | Office of Environmental Health and Safety

"Most developers are moderately to highly toxic by ingestion, with ingestion of less than one tablespoon of compounds such as monomethyl-p-aminophenol sulfate, hydroquinone, or pyrocatechol being possibly fatal for adults. Symptoms include ringing in the ears (tinnitus), nausea, dizziness, muscular twitching, increased respiration, headache, cyanosis (turning blue from lack of oxygen) due to methemoglobinemia, delirium, and coma. With some developers, convulsions also can occur."

Now are you ingesting it no, but my acquaintance stated he had a lab where he was doing his own prints for his business which raised his exposure level by constant skin contact.

Ummm, sure.
Your anecdotes are not backed by science.
Do yourself a favour and look up some of the formulas that use the chemicals you have listed and think of how much a person would have to drink to kill themselves. There are much easier ways to unalive oneself.
Here's a hint: There are 5 grams of hydroquinone in a liter of D-76 stock. A person would need to deliberately ingest (drinkl) 3 liters of stock solution to get to your tablespoon. The stuff doesn't taste good enough to down that much of it.
Also, there are these things called print tongs that were used for handling prints. One could also use nitrile gloves.

Let's try not to be hysterical about the subject. It just makes us look less that bright.

I bet more people hurt themselves getting out of the bath tub than working in a darkroom by percentage of users.

I spent close to 30 years in a darkroom, all of that with my fingers in the chemistry.
I have suffered zero ill effects, and I haven't been in a darkroom since 2002, so I expect if I was going to notice anything, I would have by now.

Please, let's drop the hysterical we must wrap ourselves in bubble wrap attitude and deal with reality. Hiding under the bed is no way to live.

[brofkand]

The answer, no matter what year you are in as you read this, is to speak to your area's hazardous waste facilities to inquire as to disposal.

[Wheatfield]

The answer, no matter what year you are in as you read this, is to speak to your area's hazardous waste facilities to inquire as to disposal.

Oh dear, here we go again.

[MarkJerling]

Breathe in.... and out Bill. LOL

[Wheatfield]

Breathe in.... and out Bill. LOL

May I breath in again please?

[ChrisPlatt]

As stated by others here with a very few exceptions the standard chemicals used in a BW darkroom are pretty innocuous.

For many years I spent several hours per week in the darkroom at school and home developing BW and making wet prints.
Developer, stop bath and rinse always went down the drain into the municipal sewer system.
Exhausted fixer was dropped off at my old college darkroom for disposal.

Nowadays DSNY holds disposal events twice yearly in each New York City borough.
Today I store used fixer in a large plastic jug and drop it off at one nearby.

BTW I never used tongs or rubber gloves. I have suffered no long term health effects.

Chris

[MarkJerling]

May I breath in again please?

Yeah sure. You're looking a bit blue.

[Wheatfield]

Yeah sure. You're looking a bit blue.

That's from the silver I ingested while working in the darkroom.

[brofkand]

How do I dispose of the chemicals in 2022?

And how about next year in 2023?

[StiffLegged]

Yeah sure. You're looking a bit blue.

That's from the silver I ingested while working in the darkroom.

Did you do a lot of toning too? Your choice is commendable, not many of us could stretch to gold toner.

[Wheatfield]

Did you do a lot of toning too? Your choice is commendable, not many of us could stretch to gold toner.

I've been told I'm pretty well toned for a guy my age.

[ChrisPlatt]

I've been told I'm pretty well toned for a guy my age.

Just don't overdo it on the selenium toner.

Chris