Danger From A Glowing Screen

Could your computer be killing you? That question has been the subject of a fierce debate among scientists and computer users ever since Paul Brodeur raised the issue last year in the New Yorker magazine. Brodeur laid out an impressive array of evidence linking electromagnetic fields like those surrounding computer monitors to unusually high incidences of miscarriages, birth defects and cancer. But throughout the debate the position of the computer industry has been unanimous and unambiguous: it denied that any such health hazards could possibly exist.

Now a major computer publication has broken ranks. The July issue of Macworld, an independently owned magazine for users of Apple Macintosh computers, features a cover story by Brodeur and an analysis of the magnetic fields generated by ten popular monitors. The results are disturbing. At a % distance of 10 cm (4 in.) from the screen, Macworld measured emissions that were, in some cases, ten times as high as those linked with cancer in children.

According to Brodeur, the main problem is the coil that controls the vertical movement of electrons bombarding the screen. The strongest emissions, it turns out, are from the sides, the backs and the tops of the monitors, suggesting that users could be at greater risk from their co-workers' machines than from their own. Until the Government sets standards for so-called extremely low frequency (ELF) emissions, Macworld suggests that users keep their monitors at arm's length and position themselves at least twice that distance from their nearest neighbor's machine.

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CREDIT: TIME Chart by Joe Lertola

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