Printers risking human health

Latest report by International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, University of Technology, Queensland, Australia found that some of laser printers emit pollution which can stay in human lung and dangerous for health.

Research head, Professor Lidia Morawska said "The health effects from inhaling ultra-fine particles depend on particle composition, but the results can range from respiratory irritation to more severe illness such as cardiovascular problems or cancer."

The labs studied 62 printers and 17 of them said to be 'high level pollutan particle contributor'. Even one of the printer emits pollutan as much as cigarette smoke. They said they have studied variety laser printers including Canon, Toshiba, Hewlett Packard and Ricoh.

Of course not all printers are threat to human health. 37 percent of all studied printers are completely safe.

As taken from San Francisco Chronicle Friday (3/8/2007), below are the list of the printers and the pollutan level they produce:

High Level Pollutan Printers

HP Color LaserJet 4650dn
HP Color LaserJet 5550dtn
HP Color LaserJet 8550N
HP LaserJet 1320N
HP LaserJet 1320n
HP LaserJet 2420dn
HP LaserJet 4250n (cartridge lama)
HP LaserJet 4250n (cartridge baru)
HP LaserJet 5(a) (studi lebih lanjut diperlukan)
HP LaserJet 8150N
Toshiba Studio 450

Middle Level Pollutan Printers

HP LaserJet 1020
HP LaserJet 4200dtn

Low Level Pollutan Printers

Canon IRC6800
HP LaserJet 5M
HP LaserJet 9000dn
Ricoh CL3000DN

Non Pollutan Printers

HP Color LaserJet 4550DN
HP Color LaserJet 8500DN
HP LaserJet 2200DN
HP LaserJet 2300dtn
HP LaserJet 4 plus
HP LaserJet 4000N
HP LaserJet 4000TN
HP LaserJet 4050N
HP LaserJet 4050TN
HP LaserJet 4si
HP LaserJet 5(b) (more research needed)
HP LaserJet 5000n
HP LaserJet 5100tn
HP LaserJet 5N
HP LaserJet 5si
HP LaserJet 5si/NX
HP LaserJet 8000DN
HP LaserJet 8150DN
Ricoh Aficio 2022
Ricoh Aficio 3045
Ricoh Aficio 3245C
Ricoh Aficio CC3000DN
Toshiba Studio 350

Do you have one of those above ?