Under the new Smoking Laws, should we banish printers outdoors? July 31, 2007 14:51 by John Sollars

In a report published by the Queensland University of Technology, researchers have concluded that printing using laser printers can be as bad for your health as smoking.

Professor Lidia Morawska found fine particles emitted by some laser printers raised indoor particle levels fivefold during office hours, that almost a third emit potentially dangerous levels of toner into the air and that the problem was worse when new cartridges were used and when graphics and images required higher quantities of toner.

The researchers carried out tests on more than 60 machines and almost one-third were found to emit ultra-tiny particles of toner-like material, so small that they can infiltrate the lungs and cause a range of health problems from respiratory irritation to more chronic illnesses.