Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Ionizing Radiation from Video Displays
Message-ID: <1989Aug29.014521.20929@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1124@adobe.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 89 01:45:21 GMT

In article <1124@adobe.UUCP> asanders@adobe.COM (Alan Sanders) writes:
>I have heard a completely unconfirmed rumor linking computer use to brain
>tumors. Needless to say, even the suggestion of such a thing is frightening.
>Can someone summarize what is known about the possible health risks of
>exposure to the radiation produced by computer video displays?

There has been a lot of fuss about it, with electrical and magnetic fields
the latest hypothetical villain (since most of the others have been shot
down by the fact that the monitors demonstrably don't generate enough
radiation to be dangerous).  The jury is still out.  Before panicking,
compare statistics for VDT workers to those for TV program directors,
who also spend long hours staring into video monitors at close range.
(Hint:  no bizarre medical problems have been reported among them.)

Health risks are *much* more likely to be related to non-radiation issues
like eyestrain and bad posture; those are known to be real problems.
-- 
V7 /bin/mail source: 554 lines.|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1989 X.400 specs: 2200+ pages. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu