On this episode of "When Laser Printers Attack," it turns out your laser printer is not guilty of releasing noxious particles into the air, as previously reported by this Australian health alert (PDF) last year. The report claimed that some laser printers sporadically spew certain "toner-like" particles that pose the same amount of health hazard as cigarettes. As it turns out, laser printers hardly release any of these noxious chemicals into the air and it's perfectly safe to use one without wearing a Hazmat suit.
The good scientists at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft applied research institute just released this research study that empirically refutes the argument made by the Australians. It states that that "contrary to numerous reports, laser printers release hardly any particles of toner into the air."
The particles are actually made of volatile organic-chemical substances, or VOCs, and while they do confirm that they exist, the VOCs aren't nearly as deadly as a cigarette; in fact, the accused printer perpetrators emit the same level of VOCs as the common toaster, and nobody's keeling over trying to make toast in the morning, so it's safe to assume that your printer is probably not going to be your cause of death. The article goes on to dispel the myth of VOC filters: "As the ultra-fine particles are not emitted from a specific part of the printer, but also from the paper output, for instance, a filter can only have a limited effect."
Lesson learned: use your laser printer with peace of mind; don't lick the toner cartridge; and take solace knowing that everything around us emits some form of small particle/gas/radiation/carcinogen, but only a handful of it is toxic. I think.
When 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley and his crew went to China to record the black market dismantling of electronic waste, or e-waste, the experience was almost as hazardous for the 60 Minutes team as working with the toxic material is for poor Chinese workers.
Jumped by a gang of men overseeing the e-waste operations who tried to take the CBS team's cameras, Pelley's crew managed to escape and bring back footage of the hazardous activities. Pelley's investigation will be broadcast this Sunday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
The Chinese attackers were trying to protect a lucrative business of mining the e-waste -- junked computers, televisions and other old electronic products -- for valuable components, including gold. "They're afraid of being found out. This is smuggling. This is illegal," says Jim Puckett, founder of the Basel Action Network, a group working to stop the dumping of toxic materials in poor countries that certifies ethical e-waste recyclers in the United States. "A lot of people are turning a blind eye here. And if somebody makes enough noise, they're afraid this is all going to dry up."
E-waste workers in Guiyu, China, where Pelley's team videotaped, put up with the dangerous conditions for the $8 a day the job pays. They use caustic chemicals and burn the plastic parts to get at the valuable components, often releasing toxins that they not only inhale, but release into the air, the ground and the water. Potable water must now be trucked into Guiyu and scientists have discovered that the city has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world. Pregnancies in Guiyu are six times more likely to result in miscarriages, and seven out of 10 children there have too much lead in their blood.
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The question is this: can Liam Gallagher ever be an elder statesman of anything? In an England swamped in punk and new wave variants, Oasis' Britpop now borders on adult--which isn't to say it's stodgy. The group's newest spins the psychedelic style as a textural wonderland.
(Credit:
Slashphone)
If you're trying to impress people with your carbon footprint, you may not want to flaunt your phone unless it's made by Sony or Sony Ericsson. Those are the only electronics makers that scored above 5/10 in the latest edition of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics.
The organization tried to explain why the 18 companies that were assessed seemed to rank so low on its scale (PDF). "Electronics giants pay attention to environmental performance on certain issues, while ignoring others that are just as important. Philips, for example, scores well on chemicals and energy criteria, but scores a zero on e-waste since it has no global take-back polices," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International's toxics campaigner.
Sony Ericsson got high marks in the chemicals category, attributable in no small part to its ban on PVC beginning with this year's products, according to Slashphone. If you do carry a different brand, you might at least be able to disguise it with a case made from recycled tires.
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