A PC is like an ogre; it's full of toxic layers

In case we haven't told you this in one of our How-tos already: don't attempt to eat your PC. You'll probably break a few teeth trying it, and a lot of the parts that make up your chunky tower or your sandwich lookalike of a laptop are toxic anyway. PC Magazine outlines some of the common toxic chemicals that make up your PC, and it doesn't make for pleasant reading. For example, did you know that your motherboard's Beryllium base could give you cancer, and your LCD's mercury infused fluorescent bulb, brain damage? OK, so you're not really in any kind of risk unless you go against our wise eating advice earlier, but it certainly makes you think -- specifically, that the innocent box sitting under your desk is trying to kill you. C'mon, these thing are already starting to "randomly" explode; how long until our LCD activates its tilt mechanism and starts dripping mercury into our mouth while we're sleeping, or our laptop sneaks in between two slices of bread? Personally, we're going back to pen, paper, and non-robotic carrier pigeon.

Read - Toxics in your PC
Read - What's inside your laptop

[pathum @ Mar 21st 2007 3:09AM]

Let the lawsuits begin.

[adrian @ Mar 21st 2007 3:17AM]

when I read the title, I thought it read "orgie"

[Manuel @ Mar 21st 2007 3:39AM]

yeah.... bummer

[Ron @ Mar 21st 2007 3:49AM]

Scary...but Not surprising considering how much toxic waste gets outputted from making PC's and electronic components (and the fact that if we chuck it into any random landfill, theres gonna be huge problems with pollution and leaking of toxic stuff)

correct me if I'm wrong.

[SLP @ Mar 21st 2007 5:06AM]

I doubt there's enough toxic to harm a baby.

Note: Don't go feeding your baby computer parts to prove me wrong.

[qwert @ Mar 21st 2007 5:32AM]

why is this news? i thought this was common sense that electronics contain all kinds of toxoc stuff.

but the problem isnt the fact that our beloved gadgets contain toxics, its the fact that its lifecycles are so fuckin short. even if you buy a pc that has the possiblity to be upgraded in such a way that it will serve you for a few years it will most likely die too soon, so you need to buy a comlplete new one. and you even cant use the parts that are still working, because they arent compatibel anymore. use old harddrive as small backup partition? forget it, IDE isnt SATA. add your old ram? forget it. too small and wrong standart. use old power supply? forget it, at least 1MW too weak.
and so on

this is a real problem. (and the fact that pcs need way too much power)

qwert

ps: of course this also applies to macs, so please, no fanboy wars here

[o29 @ Mar 21st 2007 11:22AM]

I think you might be overstating the problem. Many people still use IDE harddrives and DDR RAM. There are practical limits to these technologies, thus upgrades in standards should be expected.

I do agree about that power consumption is getting out of hand though, particularly with video cards. Luckily, power supplies aren't too expensive (compatively, anyway).

[tehuberone @ Mar 21st 2007 5:41AM]

TOXIC DO NOT EAT.

[Mike @ Mar 21st 2007 8:04AM]

This is why we are recycling electronics.

http://crserecycling.com

[Technician @ Mar 21st 2007 8:36AM]

Yeah, no big surprise here, but it really does accent the need for EPA-certified methods of computer recycling and disposal, rather than landfilling. Our recycling methods are already good, reducing a standard desktop pc to roughly a test tube of non-recyclable waste material. It is just usually a hassle for most home and small business users to locate and afford these procedures.

[Scooter @ Mar 21st 2007 9:46AM]

Efforts are underway to develop international standardization, modular parts etc. that will hopefully minimize the waste associated with inevitable upgrades.
Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) is profiled here:
http://www.salemnews.com/business/local_story_072094706

And yes, it is a problem even for peeps who simply junk their computers and buy a newie. While many old PCs do end up in China being picked apart by peasants (quickly dying due to toxic poisoning as they try to extract precious metals), there are many more electronic parts (from other household electronic goods) lying in your local landfill and leeching into your water supply, where the ninja turtles breed... but I digress.

[simon @ Mar 21st 2007 10:10AM]

Though i knew there was toxic elemnts I do wonder what level of exsposure is dangerous?

I know mercury can pass through the skin but whawt about the berilium? Can scratches from the lead solder nips cause serious problems later on?

[telepheedian @ Mar 21st 2007 4:43PM]

Oh well, at least I'll go out in style.

[dfsdfsfsf @ Mar 22nd 2007 2:38AM]

Buy stock from startech and help them grow, they get rid of all waste through plasma conversion. They reduce everything except yellow case uranium to glass and (something else I forgot, but it can be used for energy).