Study claims home 3D printing could pose health risks

This is interesting. 3D printing is undoubtedly an exciting technology with loads of potential uses, but a new study suggests that we might have to think more carefully about its possible health implications in the home.

The biggest potential health risk, it seems, comes from particle emissions small home and office 3D printers might be kicking out. While industrial 3D printers often come with ventilation shafts and filters to make sure no one breathes in any airborne particles, the same is seldom true for mass market versions.

According to the study: “Many desktop 3D printers rely on heated thermoplastic extrusion and deposition, which is a process that has been shown to have significant aerosol emissions in industrial environments”.

Until now however, no one’s really paid much attention to what the potential impact of that process might be in the home.

The guys behind the study took five models of popular 3D printer at the Chicago-based 3D Printer Experience. They found that models using both ABS and PLA polymers for their plastic feedstocks were “high emitters” of ultrafine particles (UFPs) and have similar emission rates to a laser printer or a cigarette burning.

Because they’re so small, UFPs can easily be absorbed into the bloodstream through inhalation and long-term exposure has been linked to lung disease, strokes, and the development of asthma symptoms.

The researchers note therefore that “some caution should be taken” when operating commercially available or infrequently filtered indoor spaces. They are careful to stress however that their’s is the only research on the topic that they are aware of and that more work needs to be done in the field.

[Via: The Verge]