Any special precautions while pregnant?

[mirizar]

A friend of mine just learned that she is pregnant. She is also an artist (watercolor and acrylics). She is wondering if there are any special precautions to take for painting while pregnant. Is it generally safe to paint in watercolors since the pigments are so diluted? I know of those CL/AP labels but are those based on adults or do they apply to children/babies too?

Thanks for any information,
Michelle

[HarvestMoon]

I would not use anything like Cadmiums....diluted or not- really best not to take the chance I would say... you can absorb things through your skin, although likely it would be really tiny amounts and not cause harm.

best to be safe- it is only 9 months after all... well, more if she is planning to nurse the baby... in general, if it is labeled that it is NOT cool to use in California, it is likely not so good to use when expecting...

PS- later....
Just read a Cadmium label- it says it can cause cancer due to inhalation... but I would be careful anyway when expecting

[APCenter]

I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I personally don't worry too much about the most common pigments that are CL-listed.

I mostly only worry about the really nasty ones, such as lead white, genuine vermillion (mercuric sulfide), genuine naples yellow (lead antimonate), and such...most of which are pretty darned hard to find nowadays anyway, and safer cheaper alternatives exists to boot.

Most research regarding paints containing cadmium or cobalt that I've read seems to indicate that you'd have to eat an awful lot of the stuff to cause any harm. And since I'm not in the habit of eating my paints...

For most artists, I would say that common sense safe studio practices should preclude any toxicity concerns with most artist materials.

NOW, all that having been said, I'm not pregnant...and since I'm a man, I don't ever plan to be. But, I'll play devil's advocate against myself and say that it's probably better for an expecting mother to err on the side of caution.

[mirizar]

All:

Thanks for the info. I found this really useful website with a list of safe and hazardous pigments:

http://www.alessandrakelley.com/Hazards.html

I think she can use this to sort through her paints and select the safest ones.

Thanks!
Michelle