Hydroquinone is a carcinogenic skin whitener???

[Terrance Hounsell]

FYI please find the CBC Story at the following link:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/stor...ng-071029.html

Which includes this quote:

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on over-the-counter sales of skin-lightening products, citing potential health risks of the common ingredient hydroquinone.

Hydroquinone is a possible carcinogen and has been linked with disfiguring condition called ochronosis that causes darkening and thickening of the skin, along with raised bumps and greyish-brown spots.

???? Does anyone know if this applies to developers ????

[Ian Grant]

Thats very old news and has no bearing on photographic uses

Ian

[gainer]

A skin lightener that causes darkening of the skin would be the sort of thing that some bureaucrat might try to ban. It has, of course many uses but so does sodium hydroxide.

My first contact with hydroquinone was about 68 years ago. So far, my most serious ailment has been old age, followed by conkus of the bonkus: everything I eat turns to excrement and comes out my anus.

[MikeSeb]

God, the internet. The Cloaca Maxima of news, gossip, and panic.

[Tom Hoskinson]

FYI please find the CBC Story at the following link:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/stor...ng-071029.html

Which includes this quote:

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on over-the-counter sales of skin-lightening products, citing potential health risks of the common ingredient hydroquinone.

Hydroquinone is a possible carcinogen and has been linked with disfiguring condition called ochronosis that causes darkening and thickening of the skin, along with raised bumps and greyish-brown spots.

???? Does anyone know if this applies to developers ????

It does not apply.

You should always practice chemical safety when working with any chemical reagent. (This includes water).

For scientific Material Safety Data information based on actual data (instead of news media hysteria):

Here is the URL for the JT Baker Hydroquinone MSDS:

https://www2.carolina.com/webapp/wcs...sds/868230.pdf

CARCINOGENICITY: NTP: NO IARC: NO Z LIST: NO OSHA REG: NO

CARCINOGENICITY NONE IDENTIFIED.

REPRODUCTIVE EFFECTS, NONE IDENTIFIED.

EFFECTS OF OVEREXPOSURE
INHALATION: HEADACHE, COUGHING, DIZZINESS, DIFFICULT BREATHING
SKIN CONTACT: IRRITATION
EYE CONTACT: IRRITATION
SKIN ABSORPTION: NONE IDENTIFIED.

[Photo Engineer]

I would add to Tom's list, the potential for kidney damage if injested, but that applies to most foreign chemicals.

BTW, Quinoline is used in 'man tan' and similar chemical tanning agents. It is quite toxic IIRC, but is still used as so many want a quick chemical tan.

PE

[maxbloom]

Or with a little organic chemistry you could turn it into a quinolone and take it when you get sick.

[Photo Engineer]

Max;

Are you thinking of quinine? That is entirely unrelated to this.

Also, thinking it over, I think it is a quinoline derivative rather than the parent quinoline that is used in Man Tan.

PE

[maxbloom]

No, I was thinking quinoline, which is basically a benzene and a pyridine stuck together, as I'm sure you know. And then quinolones (parent group is basically nalidixic acid), which looks like two pyridines stuck together, with one of them pretty heavily oxidized and other one methylated.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroquinolone

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

People tend to forget it, but hyrdoquinone is in the same class of toxic chemicals as pyro. Don't sniff that powder, it won't do you good.