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Health Consequences of CRT Monitors?
DigiMan asks: "I was wondering, what are the effects of working on a CRT are on your health - long term. It has recently bothered me that EVERYONE seems to be switching to LCD's - I noticed that Bill Gates was one of the 1st people to do this, even when the cost was super high, and many, many government offices switched to the much more expensive LCD's - despite budget cuts and having to go with the lowest bidder strategy they operate under. Was this ONLY for style and space savings? Is there some health consequence that no one talks about publically. I know that they do emit very low amounts of X-Rays and have a 60Hz magnetic field as well as a 12.5 kHz electro magnetic field (for the raster scan). I work in front of typically 3, 19" CRT's for 12 - 16 hours per day at an average distance of 18". Can these magnetic fields cause Leukemia, or anything else? Is being behind the a cathode ray tube that bad for you?"
they may cause you to loose a sense of humor and whine about stories posted on April 1st.
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any scientific tests to show CRT cause eyesight problems?
doctors say to take breaks, when doing lots of reading, be it lcd/crt/book/newspaper anyways...
LCDs use less electricity, and don't flicker.
1) I've been wearing rigid gas-permeable contact lenses for 22 years now (not the same set, and I take them out at night you smart-asses). I notice that when I wear these versus glasses, I can stare at most monitors for a long time without significant strain.
2) Use the best CRT monitor you can get your hands on. I've noticed that my eyestrain actually goes up working on my laptop versus my CRT (a 22" NEC MultiSync FP-series set to the highest possible resolution and very tiny fonts). It's one of those things you have to try for a few days before you realize how nice it is.
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Sorry, magnetic field are incapable of causing cancer. What causes cancer are relatively gross changes to the genetic material that lead to hyperactivity or inactivity of genes that are crucial for normal cell cycling. Some scientists believe that you actually need chromosomal rearrangements for cancer to occur (meaning malignancy, ie an invasive and metastatizing process). Indeed, most malignancies show these rearrangements. I can assure you that magnetic fields are not capable of causing this kind of damage. They cannot even cause point mutations. Obviously, ionizing radiation can, but AFAIK you don't get that from a CRT. People complaining about hypersensitivity to magnetic fields are like those suffering from multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome - they suffer from something, but the cause is entirely imaginary, fueled by magical thinking. CRT's do not make you ill. You get a headache from squinting or sitting slumped in your seat, at most.
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