advice needed on alkyd oil colours

[pondwhelk]

does anyone here use alkyd oil colours?  i bought a tube of fast drying titanium white, described as 'a genuine oil paint, made from high quality pigment and oil modified alkyd resin, that can be thinned with traditional solvents' - and found an allergy warning on the back.  does anyone know what form this allergy could take, and what the precautions might be, to protect against it?  it's something to do with the solvent used, i guess, rather than the pigment - since the warning is on all the alkyd tubes.

i've always used traditional oil paints, thinning (if at all) with linseed oil only (not turps) and i clean my brushes in white spirit.  i am not sensitive to any of these, and don't want to become so by using alkyds - but i'm attracted to the fast-drying aspect of alkyd oil paints, for ground preparation etc.  (i dislike acrylics, so these aren't an option.  the colour is always described as being 'stable' but i have acrylic paintings i did back in the late sixties, and the once-bright colours are very dull and muggy now; painters beware!)

anyway - please anyone: info about alkyd oil paints needed urgently, particularly any personal experience of allergic reactions.  thanks!   

[pondwhelk]

advice urgently needed on alkyd oil paints - see below!
 

[admin]

Any kind of allergy is likely to be a skin allergy and not fatal or anything  - and probably only affecting a small number of people who are prone to allergies anyway. I would just use them anyway and see how they work...

[pondwhelk]

Any kind of allergy is likely to be a skin allergy and not fatal or anything  - and probably only affecting a small number of people who are prone to allergies anyway. I would just use them anyway and see how they work...

i'm prone to allergies!    but i have read that alkyds can possibly cause breathing difficulties, mental confusion etc - so i think it might be rather more than just contact dermatitis.  thanks, though. 

anyone here have personal experience of these paints?  it seems hard to find any definitive info on the web, though i have looked.

[pondwhelk]

i've now found some info on the W&N site, for Griffin Fast Drying Oil Colour (Alkyd) -
http://www.winsornewton.com/assets/HealthandSafetyDataSheets/OIL%20COLOUR/Griffin%20Alkyd/04412258.pdf

HUMAN HEALTH
The product contains a sensitising substance which may provoke an allergic reaction among sensitive individuals.

TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION:

INHALATION
May cause sensitisation by inhalation.
INGESTION
May cause discomfort if swallowed.
SKIN CONTACT
May cause sensitisation by skin contact.
EYE CONTACT
Spray and vapour in the eyes may cause irritation and smarting

(active chemical involved:  2-butanone oxime)

they recommend a respiratory mask, gloves etc, and not allowing skin contact with the paint - hopeless for me, as i tend to end up with more paint on me than on the canvas, by the end of a working day...  

(their warnings are for artists, btw, not for those using industrial quantities.)  i think i'll pass on this stuff; doesn't sound worth the risk.  anyone want some free paint?