Laser Printer Particles May Cause Irresponsible Journalism

With everything else we have to worry about these days, the price of a gallon of gas, the war in Iraq, which celebrity is doing what to whom, we have yet another thing added to the list of reasons why we don't sleep at night thanks to the over sensationalizing media: laser printers causing respiratory problems.

Recent research out of Queensland University of Technology appears to support the theory that laser printers emit fine particles (i.e. toner) into the air which has the potential to get deep into your lungs and perhaps cause respiratory problems and/or cancer. 62 printers were included in the testing from all of the major manufacturers and of those 62, 17 were found to emit high quantities of toner particles into the air. The chemical analysis of these particles has not been completed and thusly not published, yet the news media has picked up the story and run with it, placing bold headlines such as "Laser printers may cause cancer" or even going so far as to claim that laser printers do cause cancer or create health problems without having all the facts.

One of the largest news websites carried the story with all of the gloomy, traffic generating, eye popping headlines and such and the article goes into some detail about which manufacturers printers were high emitters and other details to that effect. The article goes on to mention that the chemical analysis of the particles is not complete but states assertively that some are carcinogens according to another article in another media outlet. There is a link to that second article and if you follow that you discover that the research you expect to find supporting the theory that the particles are carcinogens is, in fact, the same article about the same scientists and the same exact study but no additional information about what proof they have that any of these particles are carcinogenic.

My point is not to criticize the good work of the scientists. These are highly trained experts whose body of work revolves around air quality and health so if their lead scientist feels these laser printer particles can adversely effect ones health, I'm sure they can. My beef is with the irresponsible media giant who publishes an article without checking all of the supporting reports. If they had, they might have noticed that the report given as supporting the "laser printer particles are carcinogenic" statement was in fact a link to the same article, nearly word for word. The only credence lent is from a small bit at the end of the second article where an expert offers comment on the research but nothing, no mention of published research or findings that actually support the statement made in the first article and does himself, in fact offer his opinion that it is other contaminates attached to these laser printer particles, not the particles themselves, that are the problem.

Instead of hunting for those stories that can be sensationalized and presented in such as manner as to scare people into a frenzy in the hopes of generating tons of traffic to their media outlets, it would be nice if these "journalists" could just report the news as it is without all the terrifying fluff and perhaps even back it up with other actual reports and findings, not the same exact article chewed up a bit and rearranged a tad. So while the jury is still out on laser printer particles causing cancer, the trial is over and the sentence of 20 to life handed down to the media when it comes to poor writing and sensationalist news.