The Hindu : Front Page : Are laser printers bad for health?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 16, 2007
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Are laser printers bad for health?

Special Correspondent

Emission akin to passive smoking: study

Bangalore: Should laser printers be sold with a health warning similar to the ones printed on cigarette packets?

The idea seemed farfetched — till the August 2007 issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology was posted on the Web. It carried the results of a study by researchers in Australia, which concludes that laser print ers working in an office environment emit micro-sized chemical particles which might be a hazard to humans in the vicinity. The study was undertaken jointly by scientists at the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane and the Queensland Department of Public Works.

About 50 commonly used laser printers — the vast majority of them from Hewlett Packard and a few from Toshiba, Ricoh, Canon — were tested and the particle concentrations measured.

The high emitter category, include 12 HP colour and monochrome laser printers and one from Toshiba. However, more than half the printers tested fall in the non emitter category.

Health concerns

Some health experts suggested that such particles — 1,000 times smaller than dust — can get drawn into a person’s lungs in much the same way as those found in cigarette smoke. Still others suggested that the emissions from printers might not be as toxic as tobacco smoke.

A response by Hewlett Packard, initially in Australia, a copy of which has been obtained by The Hindu, says “HP does not agree with the conclusion (of the Queensland research) some of the bold claims the authors have made.. 221;

“There are no indications that ultra fine particle emissions from laser printing systems are associated with special health risks,” adds HP, while conceding that “more testing in this area is needed”

It revealed that it is already engaged in such studies with two institutions in the U.S. and Germany.

Professor Lidia Morawska, who headed the Queensland study, also says further investigation should be conducted for this phenomenon which means, the lay user of laser printers has been left a mite confused but not much wiser.

Old timers recall that working for long hours near early models of electrostatic copiers was also the cause of some concern in the 1980s. Both dry copiers and laser printers use the same type of toner powder. The full text of the research paper can be found at: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es063049z.html

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