Malicious office printers like cigarettes

Office workers are at risk of diseases from laser printers, because they emit a large amount of tiny dust into the air, Australian scientists discovered.

The impact can range from respiratory irritation to cardiovascular and cancer stimulation, author - Lidia Morawska professor from Queensland University of Technology - said.

Of the 62 printers in question, the team ranked 17 units in the " high dust emissions " category. One of them also emits dust at the same speed as when people smoke cigarettes. 37 cars without dust.

The study found that the printer produced more dust when the cartridge was new or when printing images and graphics, because more ink was needed. Morawska said that when inhaling printer dust, they can reach the furthest points in the respiratory tract and penetrate into the blood.

Researchers have accidentally discovered this while exploring the effectiveness of the ventilation system in protecting office workers from pollution outside the home. They checked in a large, non-bulkhead office in Brisbane's central business district, surrounded by crowded streets and about 120 meters from a highway.

"We are not going to find anything from sources inside the building, but we quickly discovered that the sources of pollution inside are much higher than outside," Morawska said.

On average, the density of polluted particles in the home is 5 times higher in working hours than when not working. At peak time, this index is 3 times larger than external pollution.

Morawska said the offices have poor ventilation, high levels of polluted particles " throughout the day ", and the health risk is " quite high " for those sitting in the agency " throughout the day ". .

T. An