For fumed silica?? A respirator is something you want to use for volatile solvent based materials like paints and such.

A simple dust mask will work fine for dusts like carbon, silica, micro balloons and milled glass. Plus it's not like one is going to use this stuff by the pound. A teaspoon here and there is all it will take.

Disposable gloves for working with epoxy is a good idea. But again, unless you are working with the stuff constantly and in large amounts, the vast majority of us will never have a problem with sensitization to epoxy resin. Let's use some common sense here....

There are times to truly be cautious and send that message to beginners and there are times to not do that. Not everything we do in aeromodeling is dangerous