Wow im glad i dont work in an office...I'm glad i dont work at all!

I'm too cheap to buy a laser printer. I still have my old Epson three cartridge ink jet printer. Who's laughing now, bitch?

Nobody gets out alive

You're laughing at people for unknowingly inhaling toner and damaging their lungs. So mean.

ok, can we have the list of the risky printers?, is just one third, and im starting seeing my lser printer siting next to me in a harmful way, BBC dont tell either.

Toner is bad, m'kay
I've known this for years. It's like someone says that asbestos or plutonium is bad for your health. Of course, toner isn't nearly as bad, but it just proves how unaware people are about things in their every-day life...

personally, i like to live a lifestyle that almost guarantees i'll die from some sort of accident or stunt. so i smoke and drink near my laser printer whenever i'm playing around with my collection of depleted uranium pellets. one of these days a deer is going to catch me at 90 in a last-decade japanese car and at the last second i'll laugh at my fresh tumors for their underachieving, ineffectual nature.

Wonderful, my 10 years at a printer company laser tech support with at least one of them in my cube for 5 of those years makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe it's the toner?

Im glad i dont work in an office...shit im glad i dont work at all!

It turns out that one third of all laser printers emit tiny particles of toner that, when inhaled, have similar effects as second-hand smoke.

Oh, so they have no effect? Great.

I'd venture to guess that the ozone that these printers (and moreover bigger photocopiers) emit is worse for you than the minute amounts of toner they spit out.

Fact: Toner is statically charged plastic powder. If it were coming out of the printer in any sort of volume, enough to be harmful at all, it would collect all over the printer and its surroundings in a sooty mess. Most people don't scrub up around their print station, so you'd see it after a week or so.

If you're dealing with toner, wear gloves if you can. If you get some on you, wipe it off with a dry cloth first, then cold water. If it gets in your clothes, same thing. It mostly just brushes off and needs heat to do anything. Don't breathe it in, don't leave empty cartridges laying around. Most companies have recycling programs for the empties.

@Jeff_McAwesome: yea. actually it is more dangerous to drink 2 glasses of whole milk and inhale your toner. thats what the tobacco companies say i believe, or so the commercial goes?

I don't fear my printer since I don't inhale.
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton

so does this mean i have a legit argument to smoke in the workplace?

Will day have safety recalls for razor printers?

ok sure - but you know Canon has new toner-free laser printers right? Only problem is one version tastes like shit, and the other version won't stay stuck to your arm.

bah dah boom

"The printers are more dangerous when they're used a lot, especially for graphic and photo heavy prints that require a lot of toner."

Should I worry more about going blind or getting black lung from printing all this pron?

@Tarochan

ahaahahahahah who the hell prints porn?!?!

And cell phones will give you brain cancer.....

Nuff Said.

@DeeJayQueue: This is also true... you can also tell if you've been inhaling toner when you blow your nose and it comes out CMYK...

But yea, as the person who services the copiers at my employer, I'm not terribly concerned with the daily operation of the copiers, I'm more concerned emptying waste toner or changing developing units. That's when you really have to pay attention to what you're inhaling.

This is just further proof that everything everywhere will find a way to make you sick. It's called life... which ultimately must come to an end. I wonder if they'll crack down on printers the same way they have cracked down on smokers. I demand to be able to print anywhere, anytime I wish. If you don't like it... find another office!

@nutbastard:

this poster is aptly named

I'll take the risk.. Not having to worry about replacing toner for 5 years is worth it to me :B

@mtopper:
keep in mind at all times "nutbastard" is a persona, and invented character that in many ways does not reflect the personal views of, well, anybody.

@Aberracus: Here's another article about this study that lists the risky printers...

The laser printers found to be high emitters, or potential high emitters depending on use, were:

HP Color LaserJet 4650dn

HP Color LaserJet 5550dtn

HP Color LaserJet 8550N

HP LaserJet 1320N

HP LaserJet 1320n

HP LaserJet 2420dn

HP LaserJet 4200dtn

HP LaserJet 4250n (old)

HP LaserJet 4250n (new)

HP LaserJet 5(a)

HP LaserJet 8000DN

HP LaserJet 8150N

Toshiba Studio 450

Thanks for the link ChrisB. As someone who is a carrier for Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Defficiency AND has a day job as a graphic designer... this made me take notice, to say the least.

The problem with Alphas (as we're known) is that without a genetic phenotyping you really don't know what your risk is, they just tell you to stay away from cigarettes (i'm a non somker for life) as a precaution. All I know is I have a MUCH higher risk of dying if I were to start smoking - by some estimates, as much as 30 YEARS less life expectancy, vs. basically a normal one if i don't. While it's easy for many people to play the "Everything kills you" card, things like this can have a huge impact on an individual's life, even if the general populace isn't greatly affected. Right now, i'm just happy we have a canon printer and not an HP!

So...how many minutes of inhaling second hand smoke? I just don't see the comparison all that clearly.

But it smells so good

@Oneon1isto: That's the typical Giz Spin for ya... the headline is misleading. Well, flat out wrong actually. There's no way in hell you can get "X is as harmful as Y" from that article, by any stretch of the human imagination. Nor could you from this study. They don't quantify what high, medium and no emission levels are. They don't say what the effect of said levels COULD do. They simply state that there is the presence of particles which may act in the same WAY as second hand smoke.

But hey, they're technology writers here, so it should automatically be taken with a grain of salt... would anyone really take any medical advice from this blog, ever? Let's hope not.

@chrisb:

I'd say HP has some 'splainin to do.

Are you sure this study wasn't funded by inkjet manufacturers?

how about...... whooooo caresss. Everything can be bad for your health if you take it in a large dose.

I like my old inkjet :D Considerint new OfficeJet (ink) :D

Ok...so what happens if you combine toner with asbestos?

What? Might as well be thorough!

Pft, my Brother 2070N has been an absolute godsend at my house. Over the network printing has cleaned up my room, not to mention, got the rest of my family to shut up about printing!

I'll breathe in it's toxins till the day i die.

Years ago, I worked for a photocopier manufacturer, spending part of the time in a converted grocery store which housed the "Electrophotographic Technology Division".

This group was commonly known as "ETD". The acronym had another meaning for many employees, "Eat Toner & Die"!

The folks in Health & Safety assured us that any particles we inhaled would be expelled because they were too large to remain in your lungs. No one quite believed that, but we had no real choice. Now it looks like there may be an issue; are we looking at High Tech Black Lung?

Im screwed man! I work at a kinkos full time!

damn i always liked the smell of toner... i didn't realize it was actually cancer eating away my lungs

@ImABigTool: Man, if you're working FT at a Kinko's - you've got larger problems than something paltry like , Death. ;)

Isnt inhaling household dust significantly worse than inhaling both SHS and toner particles?

In 5 years a study will come out showing that laser toner actually improves your life by cutting your chances of getting heart disease, or some other silly nonsense.

Seriously, as someone who has been on this plane of existence longer than most of you I can tell you its more about "how" you live than "how long" you live. Enjoy your life, do what makes you happy, cause at the end, whenever that is, you won't be caring at all about all the things you did "right", only about all the things you never got around to doing at all. Trust me on this one.

Besides, Eternal Recurrence is the truth of existence so you've done this before and you'll do it again, in every way you can imagine. Life never ends, it just goes round and round.

Haven't we concluded yet that in Britain risks are overblown to take some headers on most English publications? I really hope this turns to be like those news about wifi prodding someone. If not, well at least that "copy room" does not seem to be all that stupid now don't you think?

Dude, I am so screwed.
PART OF THE CREW, ONE WITH THE OFFICE...PART OF THE CREW, ONE WITH THE OFFICE...

HP Printers were the main printers studied. All other brands also have models that emit that harmful stuff!!!!

HP printers was the main brand studied. All other brands also have models that emit the bad stuff!!!