Did you hear the recent news that printers, particularly laser printers, might be putting out small particulates into the air making office environments potentially unhealthy?

Here’s some quotes from an article in the Globe and Mail on this subject:

A new study of office laser printers by Australian researchers suggests selected toner and printer combination release emissions of small particles that are potentially harmful to respiratory health. …

To get a snapshot of printer behaviour in the office environment, the researchers measured the emissions of 62 Hewlett-Packard, Mita, Ricoh, Canon and Toshiba laser printers in an office building in Brisbane.

Specifically, the study counted the size and number of particles released by the printers and their levels of sub-micrometre particulate matter emissions – tiny, microscopic particles that are easily inhaled into the lungs.

Tim Takaro, a professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University, said the study raises questions about the specific types of particles being emitted and what chemicals they contain.

“We don’t know exactly what [those particles] are, but they almost certainly contain some carbon black – most inks do – and that’s a respiratory irritant,” Prof. Takaro said in an interview yesterday.

“My concern would be mainly for people who have pre-existing respiratory conditions,” he said.

Particle counters were mounted above each of the printers in the study to assess their local emissions contribution.

The researchers concluded that the recorded levels of printers’ general emissions were high enough to significantly affect the level of local emissions in an office – and by extension, the air quality in their local vicinity.

The article went on to state that more than a quarter of the printers studied were high emitters. many of the printers tested that came up with high emissions were Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba models, but those were also the brands that had the majority of printers being tested.

A spokesperson for HP has stated that the company will be going over the study and that HP has engineered its printers to meet strict international health and safety standards.

The news story that I watched regarding this issue stated that it’s unclear how long the printers who tested high were putting out high emissions. It could just be that they have higher emissions when certain types of ink cartridges or toner cartridges are used or when these ink cartridges are new and full. Certainly more study is needed on this subject.

For now I’d say – don’t stand around the printer talking with your co-workers!