Office printer emissions as dangerous as cigarette smoke?

Posted on Aug 2nd 2007 7:01AM by Rigel Celeste

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products

Most offices and workplaces have been smoke free for years now, but it seems there's been another culprit lurking unsuspectingly and contaminating the air just as much as the smokers used to: the laser printer. According to the physics professor at the Queensland University of Technology laser printers often put out clouds of ultra-fine particles into the air that are comparable to smoke and motor vehicle emissions. The particles are so small they're invisible to the naked eye and are capable of getting deep into the lungs and causing problems.

The government currently regulates the emissions of motor vehicles and restricts smoking in some areas, so why not printers? And how many other common appliances or equipment items are sneaking toxins into our air?

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Tags: air, laser, office, pollution, printer, printers, smoke, smoking

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris A 8-02-2007 @ 9:28AM

Hmmm.... This reminds me of something I read a couple of days ago.

Bc 8-08-2007 @ 2:24PM

what the ???

can't breathe 8-08-2007 @ 3:48PM

I wish the government would regulate the emissions of the guy I share an office with!

Todd 8-08-2007 @ 4:13PM

The "ultra-fine particles" of laser toner are classified as non-toxic. Having magnetic properties, most of the particles are stopped in the nose (which happens to be one of the areas of a human body with high iron concentrations) ;and therefore, never make their way to the lungs. Blow your nose happily!

Floyd 8-08-2007 @ 7:29PM

I love the smell of toner in the morning. It smells like . . . victory.

gummibear129 8-08-2007 @ 4:53PM

what in the world made someone think to look into this??

Jossy 8-08-2007 @ 5:02PM

time to stop picking on cigarette smokers...what they pump out is but a wee drop compared to the gallons of other smut that's spewed our 24/7. get the stastics on the amount that pumped out from coal burning power plants...just this will make your jaw drop to the floor. oooooh, and all those lovely deadly fumes from anthing that runs with diesel........ need more examples???????????

Tony 8-08-2007 @ 5:02PM

This news about printers doesn't surprise me at all. Everyday we come into contact with or are trapped with innumerable chemicals that the body was never meant to interact with. All these people complain about tobacco smoke, but how about what you can't see. I am very surprised that there is only one comment after six days! This potentially affects a lot of people.

hiram 8-08-2007 @ 5:06PM

I knew that laser printers were bad. One that we had in our computer room put out a terrific odor.
Gases as well as soot I guess. I only turned it on when it was needed. Which, luckily, wasn't too often.

Robert 8-08-2007 @ 5:41PM

Hey now don't pick on the diesels in the US. If it wasent for the long haul truckers with there powerful diesel engines moving stuff around the US you wouldent have crap. Everything from paper to tractors and evrything you can think of has to be moved by a diesel. That wouldent be possible with all your Hybrid pieces of junk.

Diesel rules, and there is nuttin' you can do about it.

Kim 8-08-2007 @ 5:57PM

My son the environmental Engineer recently advised me that the most dangerous thing in my office was the foam in the office chair that is degrading and shedding microscopic breatheable fibers as well as any popcorn cooked in the microwave (google popcorn lung) ..and last but not least don't heat up those foam containers or drink hot coffee from a styrofoam cup unless you want some styrene poisoning....Yes..The safe clean office !

Bob 8-08-2007 @ 8:27PM

The replacement cartridge is what holds the toner. Did anyone look inside the printer to see if the toner cartridge was a OEM replacement or was it a remanufactured cartridge? Before blaming the printer manufacturer it would make sense to look inside to see who made the leaking printer cartridge. Run some tests on OEM verses reman printer cartridges to see who is at fault.

OHPLEASE 8-08-2007 @ 6:25PM

Oh come on.... we know everything should be attributed to cigarette smoke. Don't be changing things up on us now. How the hells the government going to regulate this for the common good.

Kathy143buddy 8-08-2007 @ 6:49PM

OH, MY GOD! Quick! Somebody call pig-nosed dwarf Waxman from California! He'll devote the rest of his life to outlawing office printers, just like he wants to control the lives of cigarette smokers. Looking at his ugly nose, it is no wonder he is offended by cigarette smoke 2,000 miles away from him. What a CRETIN!

Big La 8-09-2007 @ 3:32AM

Quick, kill yourself now before they discover the next thing that will ruin your health.

Vivi 8-08-2007 @ 6:59PM

Knowing nothing about printers, or office equipment, I cannot comment, but to my way of thinking all this has come about because of our laziness. We want a more convenient and quicker way of doing everything. America and the rest of the civilized world are destroying themselves. The majority of people sit around munching on tidbits and drinking alcohol or soda-pop. Decadence is running wild.

Chuck 8-08-2007 @ 7:06PM

I have been in the laser printer business for 17 years. We sell printers, repair them and remanufacture cartridges. The particles that we're talking about are heavier than air and only remain airborn for a short period of time. If there were enough toner in the air to cause a health hazard you would notice the toner on the surface of everything in your office as it falls out of the air. Also if there were enough of it in the air to be harmful you would notice it in the mucous of your nose. The mucous is there to protect the body from air born particles and since the toner is black, you would notice it in your cleanex if you blew your nose. My guess is this is another over reaction from an envirnmentalist who wants to over regulate our world.

Lisa 8-09-2007 @ 9:27AM

Hey this will make a great lawsuit for people that want to retire early! Go have at it folks!

Mick 8-08-2007 @ 9:04PM

You know this is garbage when you write a nice editiorial and it just vanishs with a key stroke, because I failed to signed in. What a waste of time and effort to make someone laugh with my humor.