Zero Carbon Initiative by Computer Maker

Posted on June 5th, 2007 in health and wellness, energy, environment, computers and internet by Thomas

Todd Woody of the Green Wombat blog reports that Dell announced today their .

Flowing with the “green word of the day”, in this case “” and “” is the easy step to take. Follow the flow, instead of being ahead or creating the flow.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it is a bad thing to work on the “zero carbons”.

But, is it enough? Even close?

Computer and electronics manufacturing is usually a “dirty business”. Toxic and causing substances are used and released into the environment during the manufacturing process. Those very same substances are also left as residue on the components. They gas out while in your office or home.

Many people, especially those with can tell you what happens to them when they are exposed to a computer manufactured in this conventional way.

The toxic and carcinogenic substances are additionally a problem later, when the computer is decommissioned and needs to be recycled, dismantled, etc.

The commonly used flame retardant () is not regulated anywhere and has recently been linked to prostate cancer, obesity, and other diseases. See our other blog entries for more information.

If you feel tired after working all day with your computer, this is a combination of

  • from your computer, cell phone, etc. draining your body’s energy field
  • outgassing of toxic and [tag-tec]carcinogenic[tag-tec] substances. Your body has to spend energy to get rid of them. That’s energy you could spend on something else, like work, and if your work is not fun, on fun stuff.
  • noise. Constant background drains your energy level, too.
  • ergonomic problems. Non , wrong position of monitor, keyboard and mouse, create and deplete your body. A tense neck/shoulder area has caused many .

The technology to avoid or reduce those factors significantly, by 80%, 90%, 97%, has been around for many years.

To find out more about the toxins and cancer causing substances, how to get around noise and improve the ergonomics of your workstation setup, subscribe to our Free E-Class “Secrets of Healthier & Greener Computing”.

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Laser Printer and Copy Machine Toner May Be a Health Hazard

Posted on January 29th, 2007 in printer and copiers, health and wellness, environment, computers and internet by Thomas

A couple German newspapers wrote about a study on “ of toner dust” by toxicologist Volker Mersch-Sundermann this weekend. According to the study the dust exposure in a room with a or can double.

Worse, when the printer starts, can be blown into the room. Those ultra-fine dust particles can reach the blood stream through the lungs. The dust consists of a complex mixes of copper and nickel, which can be responsible for allergies, as well as highly toxic tin compounds and ozone.

Mersch-Sundermann says, they are more concerned about the components than the concentration of the dust. The long-term exposure and impact of the dust for is the biggest concern. Experiments with lung cell culture show that the DNA of those cells can be damaged when they come in contact with the dust, which can increase the risk of tumors.

People with should be very concerned about the concentration and the composition of the dust. I talked to one toner victim a couple of days ago, who told me that toner exposure and then the ride home in a brand new car put her over the edge and she’s been with MCS since then.

Toner dust has for years been suspect to be linked to and potentially other chronic illnesses.

Sensitive people or people concerned about their health, and people diagnosed with should stay away from laser based copiers and printers. An ink jet or solid ink jet as available by various manufacturers is the better choice.


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Toxic and Carcinogenic Chemicals in Computers

Posted on October 31st, 2006 in notebooks and laptops, health and wellness, environment, computers and internet by Thomas

Imagine that you wake up tomorrow and feel incredibly tired, even though you just had a full night’s rest. You go to work, but while walking through a hall, by the copy machine and the out-gassing of paint, carpet, plastics, you are overwhelmed with nausea.

For many people with (), this is reality.

Recently, stories about multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome made national news, as in the October 19, 2006 story in the New York Times about Colorado resident Caryl Shonbrun and her efforts to avoid illness from offending chemicals. The story, “Seeking Modern Refuge from Modern Life” describes how Caryl and her husband moved to Fort Collins to build a and succeeded, to a degree.

Her balance can come off quickly, she was greatly affected when one of their neighbors puts pesticides on their lawn. Modern medicine has no answer to that condition so they are practically on their own. Over 80,000 chemicals are surrounding us, the interaction of those chemicals is completely unknown, for example a certain kind of carpet and certain kind of paint could create a problem, while the carpet by itself and the paint by itself doesn’t.

How are you Feeling?

You may be wondering as you sit in front of your computer and feeling quite normal, what MCS has to do with computers? The problem of potentially offensive chemicals in computers lies within the case of your desktop or notebook and in the construction of its components.

Motherboards of almost all computers are manufactured in oxygen filled environments. Toxic and carcinogenic solder flux and many times even a toxic and carcinogenic washing solution to get the flux off the board, have to be used to manufacture the electronics.
Once the computer sits on or under your desk, these toxic chemicals can gas out when the computer warms or heats up and is then distributed in your work environment by the cooling fans.

So how does this affect you? You have made it this far in the article and probably aren’t feeling too ill I assume. While the chemicals from computers may not produce noticeable symptoms in everyone, that doesn’t mean there aren’t negative impacts on the body. Just because you don’t notice feeling ill, doesn’t mean your body isn’t having to expend extra energy to combat any side affects and “detox” your body from chemicals coming from your desktop or laptop.

In our Free E-Class “Secrets to Healthier Computing” you can learn more about how to avoid many of these toxic and carcinogenic substances that you can currently find in your computer.


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Parkinson’s and Pesticides

Posted on June 27th, 2006 in health and wellness, environment by Thomas

A study released by Harvard School of Public Health, and reported today by Reuters, links long term, low level exposure to pesticides to , a degenerative brain disease.

Based on 2001 data by the American Cancer Society the chance of developing is 70% higher. This affects mostly farmers, ranchers and fishermen.

With that many people now suffering from [tag-tec]Multiple-Chemical-Sensitivity[tag-tec] they for sure can “feel” those levels of pesticides even without being a farmer. If some people get sick from it, we all should avoid it.


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