George, Pyrocatechin is just as toxic as pyrogallo. Neither will cause your arm to shrivel should you get a few drops on your hands, but if you are developing film in trays, use gloves. That is a good idea no matter what developer you use. Even metol (D76) will cause skin disorders over time. Anyway, don't choose DiXactol over PMK because of lower toxicity. For some reason there is the misconception over the web that pyrocatechin is not very toxic. It is highly toxic. But then so too are selenium, amidol, p-phenolinediamine, among many other popular photo chemicals. The keynote is to use common sense.(posted 8406 days ago)As for the "B" alkaline solution used in DiXactol, yes, you can make your own. The chemical is sodium hydroxide. I would estimate its concentration at about 3% (3g/100ml). That should put you in the ballpark. Ted