Photography Chemicals and Pregnancy

missssaramarie

This is kind of a long shot but does anyone have any info or experience with photography dark room chemicals and pregnancy? I'm a high school art teacher and I am teaching two sections of photo this year. Currently I am 5 weeks pregnant and I normally wear gloves in the darkroom but I'm worried about the fumes. I could potentially teach all digital this year but I would really prefer to give my students some time in the darkroom. I also called my OBs office and I'm waiting to hear back.

aluicious

Determine the chemicals you're working with and look up the MSDS/SDS (safety data sheet) for them. Here's a website I found with some general safety info for dark room chemicals (https://scphoto.com/html/chemicals.html).

It also has a link to Kodak's searchable SDS site (https://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/About_Kodak_Top/Global_Sustainability/Material_Safety_Data_Sheets.htm).

Fisher Scientific also has a very extensive SDS search (https://www.fishersci.com/us/en/catalog/search/sdshome?showMSDSSearch=Y&storeId=10652).

Be sure to look up an SDS for the same phase you're working with (i.e. Aqueous silver nitrate vs solid silver nitrate).

Look for anything labeled as a "teratogen" meaning it could cause birth defects.

From what the first website says, it doesn't appear that you would be working with any super harmful chemicals in a high school photography lab. Silver nitrate solution is a common chemical that appears to have a nasty SDS (3 out of 4 for health), but that's for skin irritation (it permeates and stains skin). You would just need to make sure to wear gloves when handling.

Most important, always ask and listen to your doctor over people from the Internet. I have no personal experience in photography or the medical field; just an undergraduate chemistry degree

ETA: You could wear a respirator, too, if you're worried about fumes.

Also, found this from University of Hawaii:

https://www.hawaii.edu/art/photography/206_handouts/206_Darkroom_Hazards.pdf

It says "color chemicals" (whatever those are) are not considered safe during pregnancy.