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Is Your Computer Leaking Toxic Dust?

Posted by michael on from the goggles-do-nothing dept.

n0alpha writes "A recent study by scientists at the University of Washington suggests that computers emit dangerous chemicals. Specifically, chemicals called PBDEs (poly-brominated-diphyenyl ethers) found in the household dust that collects on your monitor and keyboard could pose a health threat. Scientists say the chemicals have caused developmental and learning defects in laboratory animals and may pose a threat to people and animals. 'It's critical we phase these materials out,' said Suellen Mele, Citizens for Resource Conservation. And some companies are doing just that."

7 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. Legislation by Big+Nothing · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here in Sweden the PBDEs are already banned through legislation, and I think the entire EU is on the way towords a ban as well.

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    SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
    1. Re:Legislation by Big+Nothing · · Score: 5, Informative

      After some research, I can provide some more informations without totally talking out of my ass:

      Penta- and octa-BDE (PBDE and OBDE) are the most toxic and will be banned in the entire EU come august (not yet banned here in Sweden, sorry for the irresponsible, blatant lie).

      Deca-BDE will not be banned in EU yet, but Sweden is working on getting a national ban (and trying to get EU to ban DBDE as well).

      I sit corrected.

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      SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
  2. The website has plenty of propaganda by Crasoum · · Score: 3, Informative
    The capacity of PBDEs to bioaccumulate in fatty tissue and biomagnify up the food chain, in combination with their persistence and toxicity make this class of chemicals of high concern to the environment and human health.

    If you eat your pets, you have more problems then just PBDEs

    Now the accumilate of this chemical through birds is worrysome, just like what has been happeenign with Mecury and Pesticides, but how much of the article is just scare tactics of few to frighten many?

    As all things, before anyone becomes overly worried, research. Afterall it takes some odd 100+ cans of diet Dr pepper with saccharine a day to get possible cancer.

    Then again, I could be mis-informed
  3. Re:In RTFA, I saw that... by ishark · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, the article says that there are 150+ other compounds which can act as fire retardant, so it's just a matter of choosing another one instead of disposing of all the electronics equipment.....

  4. CDC FAQ on PBBs and PBDEs by rtos · · Score: 3, Informative
    US CDC has a rather helpful list of questions and answers called ToxFAQs(TM) for Polybrominated Biphenyls and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBBs AND PBDEs). Of particular interest is this:
    " HIGHLIGHTS: Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are manmade chemicals found in plastics used in a variety of consumer products to make them difficult to burn. Some people who ate food contaminated with PBBs in the 1970s had skin problems. Almost nothing is known about health effects of PBDEs in people. PBBs have been found in at least 9 of the 1,613 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). PBDEs have not been identified in any of the 1,613 sites."
    Basically, we don't really know much about the effects on humans of this class of chemicals. That said, they do seem to be very persistant chemicals... which could exacerbate any problems that do eventually show up.

    Either way, I guess we should all stop licking our monitors and keyboards just in case.

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  5. Re:'dats a rhetorical question... by Cruciform · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you know the contents of solder resin/rosin, I'd bet that that is your culprit.

    I like that smell. But maybe it's just because the brain cells it kills cause my brain to release pleasure stimulating endorphins.

  6. Some numbers and thoughts... by Idarubicin · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the linked report, the highest concentrations observed in the sampled dust were on the order of 200 pg/cm^2. That's 2E-10 grams per square centimeter; most of their measurements found lower concentrations.

    Their wipe tests were performed after dust was allowed to accumulate for at least five days. Let's suppose that I regularly remove and ingest the dust from 200 cm^2 of my computer. That would be licking the dust off about thirty square inches of my computer's case.

    In that case, I'm being exposed to 40 ng per week, or about 2 micrograms per year. That's about 0.1 mg over the course of my lifetime--a tenth of a milligram.

    A recent literature review(1) (abstract and full text) gives a threshold for toxicity due to octa-BDE (the most toxic compounds studied in the wipe tets) as 2 mg/kg (fetal toxicity/teratongenicity, rat and rabbit models.)

    The most toxic compound being phased out (penta-BDE; not measured in the wipe tests) affects neurobehavioural development from 0.6 mg/kg (rat and mouse models.)

    The carcinogenicity of these compounds is not well-characterized, however any effects seem to appear at much higher exposures that one would expect in the real world.

    In other words, these compounds bear watching and the fact that they are bioaccumulative is troubling--but they're definitely not something to panic about. I'd also be more concerned about ingestion from other sources--bioaccumulations in fish and eggs--rather than from your computer hardware. Those problems, in turn, can be addressed through proper disposal of retired computer equipment.

    (1) Darnerud PO. "Toxic effects of brominated flame retardants in man and in wildlife." Environ. Int. 29(6):841-53 (2003).

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    ~Idarubicin