Monika Griefahn

  • Home
  • Monika Griefahn
    • Dr. Monika Griefahn,
      Former Minister
    • Curriculum vitae (PDF)
    • Photos
    • References appointments
  • Volunteering
  • institute for media,
    environment, culture
    • Cradle to Cradle
  • Service
    • Archives German Parliament
    • Publications
    • References
    • Downloads
  • Blog
    • Politics
    • Culture
      and
      Media
    • Opinion
    • Cradle
      to
      Cradle
    • Right
      Livelihood
      Award
  • Contact
    • Site Notice/Imprint
    • Privacy Policy
  • Deutsch
You are here: Home / General Article / Footprint for Indoor Air Quality: Stop Laser Printers!

28. September 2016 | Petra Reinken

Footprint for Indoor Air Quality: Stop Laser Printers!

By Achim Stelting, nano-Control foundation

achim_stelting_blog1

In just 20 years the prevalence of allergies has doubled. One in three people now suffers from allergic reactions. Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children and youths. Four million people are diabetes patients. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cases of cancer will have increased by 20 per cent in 2025. Skin cancer cases have doubled in ten years. Sickness absenteeism from work is at a 20-year-high and one in four employees will be incapacitated before reaching retirement age. Those developments have underlying causes.

As early as 1995 the American environmental authority realized that polluted indoor air is one of the biggest risk factors to the national health, especially so because we spend 80 to 90 per cent of our time inside buildings. As room air is unfiltered breathing air it should be as worthy of protection as food. The USEPA statement came after an investigation into the emissions of copying machines. Today, around one billion laser printers and copiers around the world emit billions of mainly ultra-fine particles per page – unfiltered and with fatal consequences.

At the invitation of Professor Dr Michael Braungart, chairman of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, the Hamburg-based foundation nano-Control left behind a special kind of footprint in the form of an art performance in support of healthy room air at the Footprint Days of the 2016 Venice Biennial on August 20 and 21. The biennial, which runs until November 27, 2016, is often referred to as the Olympics of architecture.
For their performance the „Nanos“ took signs from the very convincing Sick-Building exhibition (from which garden gnomes – which are known as nanos in Greek – flee) as well as from the light and airy building that’s as useful as a tree, adorned them with warning messages similar to those on cigarette packs, and

achim_stelting_blog2

brought those messages into the fresh air.
The stroll through the world of architecture, which was accompanied by Monika Griefahn, was stopped quickly by security guards and police officers equipped with automatic pistols, but the message had already been sent: Printer Emitted Particles Can Ruin Your Health! Even the friendly policemen were interested.

In order to rescue the garden gnomes, nano-Control equipped two of them with fine particle masks upon their return to the Sick-Building.

Four days after the performance the German government warned for the first time against health risks associated with nano particles emitted by laser printers. If we’ve learned anything from nano particles it’s the fact that even the tiniest nanos can have huge consequences.

Filed Under: General Article

Please share this in your community:

« Hamburg’s new bridge technology: shore power supply at the Cruise Center Altona
Cigarette butts are garbage, too »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Please stay in touch!

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
  • xing
  • YouTube

Insights

Appointments

November 4, 2020: Monika Griefahn moderates the online event “Environmental Management Summit” Hamburg


Germany’s Federal Environment Minister, Svenja Schulze. Photo: Max Arens

Germany’s Federal Environment Minister, Svenja Schulze. Photo: Max Arens

Pictures, videos and more from the Cradle to Cradle Congress January 31 – February 1, 2020 Berlin, Urania. Please read more here.


Laureates and guests. Photo: Wolfgang Schmidt

Laureates and guests. Photo: Wolfgang Schmidt

In 2019 the Right Livelihood Award was bestowed for the 40th time! Two laureates could come to Europe: Aminatou Haidar from Western Sahara and Davi Kopenawa from Brasil. Watch the entire video taken at the award ceremony, or read about this year’s laureates in our Blog.


 

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


Blog Archive

  • Home
  • Monika Griefahn
  • Volunteering
  • institute for media, environment, culture
  • Service
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Site Notice/Imprint
  • Privacy Policy

 

Logo Monika Griefahn GmbH/institut medien umwelt kultur Monika Griefahn GmbH
PO Box 1135
21231 Buchholz
Germany
Phone: +49 4181 4069262
Email:
Website: www.institut-muk.de
  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • YouTube
Customise Privacy Settings
Copyright © 2013–2021 | Zurück zum Seitenanfang/Back to top | Alle Rechte vorbehalten! – All rights reserved.