Printers - The next big scare story?

[Halfmad]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6923915.stm

 

I've always known printers were spewing out toner, perhaps not as bad as some photocopiers but they always have.

 

So when will we have staff asking us about moving the printers into better ventilated rooms? :?

[FN-GM]

its probably a load of rubbish everything nowadays seems a safely hazard

[Guest richard]

I know if I take my boots off that's classed as a safety hazard

[Geoff]

A long, long time ago. In a galaxy far, far away....

 

I discussed this previously.

[Geoff]

The story has hit Slashdot.

[john]

Oh Lord, another thing for the staff to moan at :S Just when we were starting to think of swapping some inkjets for small colour lasers instead

[theriver]

is there any mileage in claiming that clouds of toner protect us from the radiation given off by wireless?

[Oops_my_bad]

These scientific researchers are getting short of things to research! (Not that they've managed to find a cure for cancer yet)

[Ric_]

Firstly... kudos to the beeb for giving us a picture of an inkjet printer alongside the article.

 

Secondly... rather than putting printers in better ventilated areas... why not simply print less? Too much printing goes on anyway IMHO.

[Joedetic]

This is all very reminicent of the WiFi scares.

[mrforgetful]

How sad is it that I just looked at the printer and thought 'Oh look, it's an HP Laserjet'?

[contink]

I'm guessing the rational behind this latest "scare" is that it puts out fine dust and there's been various discoveries regarding many fine dusts ever since potters lung (and associated lung conditions) started being seen in professions ranging from Coal miners to anyone using MDF, and so on...

 

Common sense says you don't want to be breathing in any fine dust so QED it'd make sense not to put laser printers in confined spaces or at least near vents, etc... Beyond that what else can you do...

 

Be interesting to see just how significant this supposed finding is though, ie: is it a minor blip on the radar or have they found office workers keeling over.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Probably the printer industry trying to encourage thick public sector workers to rise up against laser printers and force their employers to go back to expensive (to run) inkjets.

[contink]

Probably the printer industry trying to encourage thick public sector workers to rise up against laser printers and force their employers to go back to expensive (to run) inkjets.

Maybe but it wouldn't last long..

 

Inkjet ink contain various chemicals and you can bet some wheeze is going to start kicking off about the chemicals involved, drying process liberating them into the air, etc...

 

As someone once said to me "So, lemme get this straight, with all these allegies, carcinogenic compounds, fat loaded foods... eating nothing is much healthier for me right?".

[Geoff]

If you want an alternative, I suggest you look at solid ink printers, like the Xerox Phasers.

[stephenleak]

So, just downsize to one printer, housed in a bio-hazard room. Problem (and others, like ordering scores of different cartridges, annual audit, etc.) solved.