Laser printers could be hazardous to your health

[mandy]

Some home and office laser printers pose serious health risks and may spew out as much particulate matter as a cigarette smoker inhales, an Australian air quality researcher said today.

The study, set to appear tomorrow in the online edition of the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) journal, measured particulate output of 62 laser printers, including models from name brands such as Canon, Hewlett-Packard and Ricoh. Particle emissions, believed to be toner -- the finely-ground powder used to form images and characters on paper -- were measured in an open office floor plan, then ranked.

Lidia Morawska and colleagues at the Queensland University of Technology, classified 17 of the 62 printers, or 27%, as "high particle emitters"; one of the 17 pumped out particulates at a rate comparable with emissions from cigarette smoking, the study said...

full article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...ticleBasic&articleId=9028543&intsrc=hm_list