Cigarette=Laser Printer : Bad for your Health

How Your Office is Slowly Killing You, a study emerging from Queensland University of Technology suggests that laser printers can emit clouds of ultra-fine particles that compare to “cigarette smoke and motor vehicle emissions.” Reportedly, 13 out of 40 models tested were deemed “high emitters” of particles from the toner, and while office photocopiers failed to produce similar results, concentrations of microscopic particles near laser printers were found to be “five times higher than outdoor levels often produced by traffic” in a given investigation. Currently, no efforts have been made to actually study the chemistry of the emissions, but considering that such fine objects could easily sink to the very lowest reaches of the lungs.

This means they’re incredibly small and can get deep into your lungs and ultimately your bloodstream. Given that similar particles have shown to be factors in lung cancer, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to open a window the next time you’re printing out that manuscript of yours … assuming you ever manage to write more than a page. Maybe you should just stick with poetry.