“Do Apple’s Macintosh computers emit toxic fumes? That’s the allegation made by a French newspaper,” Ben Worthen blogs for The Wall Street Journal.
“Liberation.fr ran an article recently citing an unnamed researcher who, after noticing a strange smell coming from his Mac Pro, tested the computer and found that it contained a chemical called benzene, which can cause skin and eye irritation. Exposure to large amounts of benzene can cause leukemia,” Worthen reports. “Here’s the original article, for anyone who speaks French.)”
Worthen reports, “Apple, for its part, doesn’t know anything about benzene. ‘We have not found anything that supports this claim but continue to investigate it for customers,’ an Apple spokesman tells us.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We haven’t experienced any odors with a Mac Pro, beyond the normal “new computer smell” that only lasts for a week or two. but we have come across at least one old iBook that smelled distinctly like body odor (but, it wasn’t body odor, unless that iBook was working out on the treadmill and then not showering when we weren’t looking). Please note that we’ve had several iBooks, MacBooks and MacBook Pros treated exactly the same, used on the same desks, and carried in the same backpacks/cases by exactly the same people and they emitted no odors whatsoever.
We chalked it up to “ain’t that the damnedest thing” or, possibly, “who dumped the milk into the iBook and didn’t say anything?” But, maybe, just maybe, we weren’t crazy and something really was up with that iBook? Has anyone else experienced what we have with an iBook*, or with a Mac Pro, or any other Mac?
*After a bit of googling, we found that Low End Mac certainly has encountered iBook smell: “Apparently an adhesive used in the labeling and construction of the keyboard would begin to out-gas about 12-18 months after the iBook was manufactured. This gas smells remarkably like ripe, testosterone-enriched perspiration, and it only gets worse with age.“
“INCOMPITANT”
hahaha
you couldn’t make this stuff up
Hey, guys. I know you might not happen to speak French, but it doesn’t take linguistic gymnastics to know that the page you linked to for the original French article is… well… NOT the original article in French or any other article.
And for a little background trivia, just look at the URL:
http://www.liberation.fr/laune
The “laune” is actually ‘la une’, French for ‘front page’.
OK, so how about the real URL???
Glad to see all you Mactards are taking this so lightly. Soon there’ll be less of you to stink up the forums with your stupid opinions on Windows.
For your information, Benzene is a carcinogen, and as such has been banned from many products that it used to be used in.
Long-term exposure causes damage to bone marrow and can cause anemia and leukemia (specifically acute myeloid leukemia and actue non-lymphocytic leukemia).
High-levels of benzene in the air can cause death when inhaled for even a brief period of time, and low levels can cause drowsiness, dizziness, increased heart-rate, tremors, confusion, headaches, and unconciousness.
Wow. The trolls are out in FULL force today. Part of that 300 million ad budget, I’d wager…
my mac always smells like stetson…
No, it’s just that you’ve be told your Macs are poisoning you and you don’t seem to care.
LOL – NOT even an ORIGINAL pathetic comeback – you have to copy off someone else.
Think you better practice here, at the following link, with all your fellow blatant mac retards
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> ;
Shows how desperate and doomed you are when the only same ONE comeback you have is spelling – clearly the context of the post is FAR too near reality for you to SPEW your usual BS everywhere – Mac = Betamax = DEAD Format – just THINK of all the $H!T you’ll get in repayment for being such a pr!ck when Jobs croaks it in the NEW YEAR – your life won’t be worth living! 😀
“No, it’s just that you’ve be told your Macs are poisoning you and you don’t seem to care.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole
“No, it’s just that you’ve be told . . .”
No, no. Truth be told. Don’t miss your school bus.
“pathetic comeback – you have to copy off someone else.”
“http://www.youtube.com/ . . . “
Ah, the sweet stench of irony is still wafting through this thread.
Well done. Now put down the paint can and bring my pizza to me. Quickly, boy!
The French are complaining about bad odors? Pot, meet Kettle.
Still, when the logic board in my Mac Pro was replaced it emitted a strong garlicy smell for months.
Windows smells like fresh cat feces and we all know how good THAT smells!
[wink]
“low levels can cause drowsiness, dizziness, increased heart-rate, tremors, confusion, headaches, and unconciousness.”
Otherwise known as Mac Fanboy Syndrome.
That isn’t the Macbook Pro, that is the smell of French Fries.
Otherwise known as <strike>Mac Fanboy Syndrome</strike> Afib’s disease.
This is disturbing, as I purchased my MacPro 8-core last September and was Diagnosed with AML M3 (Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia) just months later. The doctors asked me if I knew if I had any exposure to Benzene. I think I will have to watch this one closely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy
At least you’ll die for the cause.
To all the windoze fanboi trolls, mange donc la merde alors.
I think the toxic fumes from your PCs cause you to hunt out Mac sites to illustrate how “INCOMPITANT” you are….
Hahahaha my day is starting off on a good foot.\
Au revoir mes amis
From: Apple Black Ops
To: Steve
Re: AKDS (Airborne Koolaid Delivery System)
The latest test of the Airborne Koolaid Delivery System has gone well. We had one small problem. The agent acts upon the brains of most users quickly enough for them to perceive the active agent as smelling like their favorite smell. But in countries where people bath little, users perceive the true benzene like smell of the active agent. By upping the doses, we’ll be able to reduce that significantly for the next test.
Tests with subject Modbus have been particularly successful. He now shows a complete disconnection from reality and is now prepared to die for the Apple cause.
Apple sux!!!
“At least you’ll die for the cause.”
And you’re immortal, Afib?
Since you’re in such excruciating pain, that would really suck for you.
Unlike the smart asses who post holier than thou comments, I actually own a MacBook Pro purchased 3 weeks ago. It definitely emits toxic fumes and I am unable to spend much time on it. Mac is not a sacred cow and if it has flaws in its design, we want it taken seriously. Most of these comments smack of the Emperor has no clothes and are unhelpful. Catch a wake up. We’re not smelling the roses here.
When I leave the computer on for a couple of days I can smell a formaldehyde like smell
Sometimes it’s so bad that I have to leave the room
At first I thought it was the ceiling fan had that replaced
then I thought it was the rug had the tested
Then the central air-conditioning and had that checked
Everything was ok
It has to be the computer