MAC PRO: Some users of the Apple computer say it smells sickening.
Image: Apple
Apple is investigating a complaint that its pre-2008 Mac Pros emit fumes from the chemical benzene. One user told Apple that he noticed a strong smell when he unpacked his Mac last year, and that 10 days later, he developed nose and throat irritation, reports the French newspaper Liberation. (A clunky English translation of the report can be found here.)
“We have not found anything that supports this claim, but continue to investigate it for the customer," Apple spokesman Bill Evans said in an email. Evans did not say whether benzene, a solvent used in plastics, is a component of the computer.
Mac Pro users on an Apple discussion board have also complained of "new car smell" and other odors the first time they fired up their units – and, in some cases, when they ran them later.
The company said last year that all of its new products would be free from brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a chlorinated plastic, by the end of this year.
We asked Philip Landrigan, chair of the department of community and preventive medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, about the potential risks of benzene.
This is an edited transcript of the interview.
What is benzene?
It’s a very widely used chemical, a solvent. It's also used widely as a building block in organic chemistry to create molecules. It's been used for 100 years in an enormous range of plastics. There's some in gasoline — less than there used to be — and it's in jet fuel. It used to be used in dry cleaning.
What does it smell like?
Some would call it sweet, some pungent. It's natural [not an added scent]. It vaporizes easily so if you put it in a dish in a room, you'd smell it instantaneously.
Is benzene dangerous?
Solvent vapors can cause headache and nausea. From a toxic point of view, benzene is a known human carcinogen [according to] the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the World Health Organization and virtually any regulatory body you could name.
There's some disagreement about how much is needed to cause cancer or what kinds of cancer it causes, but there's no debate about whether it's a carcinogen and it's most closely associated with leukemia and lymphoma. The best scientific opinion says any amount of exposure is dangerous and more exposure is more dangerous. Industry thinks you can expose people to a fair bit safely and environmental scientists are worried about even low levels of exposure.
How would one find out if a computer or other product was emitting benzene?
[An industrial hygienist] would set up an air sampling pump, which pulls air through a filter and measures how much of a contaminant like benzene is in the air. I'd find a room, sample the air for a couple hours and establish a baseline. Then I'd plug in the computer and see if there was an increase in the level of benzene in the air. Then we'd know.
Why might benzene be in a computer, and would it be dangerous?
They probably use it in the manufacturing of the computer as a solvent to clean up components, but you'd think it would vaporize off in the factory. If there were benzene in a computer or the plastic of a computer, as soon as the computer warmed up, it would start to vaporize. If there's any in there, it ought to gas off pretty quickly.
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16 Comments
Add CommentI'm disappointed that a journal like Scientific American would produce this kind of dumbed down article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow does something like SCI-AM have an article about benzine and neither mention nor link to the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for the substance?
If you want to know about the safety or danger of benzine, look here:
http://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/16105.htm
This kind of reduced intelligence must be why so much of the magazine is lately devoted to "Opinion" pieces. Its Scientific American. I want science. If I wanted Opinion, I would buy "Opinion American".
There's apparently a marketing person in control, probably a recent MBA. If you want to sell more magazines or attract more eyeballs to the advertising on your web site, you have to dumb down because there are more dumb people than smart ones. And the average IQ of people scanning the web is surely lower than that of people who shell out money to subscribe to the print version, so the podcasts are dumbest of all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs to the prevalence of opinion articles, that's a matter of economics as well. You have to spend some time to put together a good balanced science article but you can have an opinion in relative ignorance.
Uh, Benzine is 'gasoline' and BenzEne is a component of gasoline, what that link leads to. I think, perhaps, the mistake is elsewhere, eh??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI used Benzine to reveal watermarks in stamps in my early years as a philatelist. I must assume it was a common practice then. Whether it has had an effect on me or not is unknown but I have a very poor sense of taste and smell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@D Black -- Lots of solvents used years ago are now considered extremely hazardous. One of the most common was Carbon Tetrachloride. It was used as a solvent for decades. People used to wash their hands in after working on engines. It was even used to fill early "Fire Grenades" --- which were glass bulbs filled with clear liquid designed to be tossed into the base of a fire (or to fall from a wire "cage" that would expand when heated). These "Fire Grenades" (which can still be found in old barns and in New England antique stores) would turn to gas and smother the flames. We now know that the gas it gives off is among the most deadly inhaled gasses you can ever come across. It was used to kill people as a weapon in WW1.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere's lots of solvents and other substances that used to be commonly worked with but are now treated as highly toxic. When I was in school, they'd pour mercury onto a table top and push it around with a pencil. Today, a spill of that size would trigger an evacuation of the school and a local hazmat team for cleanup. Things change. As kids we used to ride unseatbelted in the back of a pickup truck too.
hey pollack, benzene (as mentioned in the article) is different from benzine, and benzene is a known carcinogen. Check any orgo chem txtbook, EPA or other organizations for more info before u go around berating sciam.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with the view that scientific American has been dumbed down, but this did not happen now is been going on for years, I have been reading the magazine since 1968. I even had a subscription, which in India cost me an arm and leg, based on my salary.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have spent a lifetime in chemistry worked with benzene, toluene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform and dozens of other solvents. Apart from catching colds very frequently I do not have any effects I can notice.
I would like to donate my body to science when I am thru with it. Any takes I am currently living is Sydney Australia.
Dumbed down, its been sanitized, censored, redacted, filtered and approved by the Bush administration.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've heard that mixing vitamin c with benzoate, a preservative found in sodas, creates benzine. I've heard there's a question as to the amount it creates, whether it's dangerous or not.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/benzene/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBenzene in the workplace has been associated with aplastic anemia and leukemia.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/benzene/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBenzene in the workplace has been associated with aplastic anemia and leukemia.
Hmm, as a writer, I feel obligated to point out that "dumbing down" is not NECESSARILY a bad thing: if done properly for educational purposes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUsed to be, the Wall St. Journal's reading level was on the college grad level.
But their readership was tiny - too few people read at that level. So they hired experts in the field and reduced the reading difficulty "by several years." Resulting in a more readable but still information-packed publication. Everyone benefitted: comprehension of business and economics related material improved - educating a wider range of people and speeding the "task" of reading this informational mainstay.
I still agree: the operative word phrase is "if done properly." The errors pointed out are clearly the result of poor editing. SciAm editors: get off your butts!
As to the Mac Pro: bought my first one last year (and love it): no detectable odor(s) when unpacking or during extensive use - in a small bedroom.
Possible: the isolated reports may reflect post-manufacture contamination; maybe while in transit, or in a warehouse.
First, "dumbing down" (simplifying vocabulary and word length) is not necessarily bad - if done properly.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPublications like Readers Digest and the Wall St. Journal have improved readability (after consulting experts) to the benefit of everyone. But the operative phrase is: if done properly.
It seems to me (as a writer and as a reader of Scientific American) that the shortcomings in this article are the result of poor editing. SciAm editors: get off your butts!
As for the Mac Pro: bought my first one last year (love it) and did not / have not noticed any odors at all emanating from it. I have a good olfactory sense and the Mac Pro is used (for hours at a time) in a room measuring 10' x 10.
Forgot to add: I believe the isolated reports of odors emanating from Mac Pros indicate post-manufacture contamination. This could occur (at intervals) during shipping or in warehouses.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks for the alert: I'm a level 3 "helper" on Apple's Support Discussions forums. I'll go look for these reports now and see if I can help.
What we call gasoline (petrol in England) is benzene (or benzine) in Europe. Benzene (C6H6, the famous benzene ring) used to be used in lighter fluid; it had a distinctive odor. Carbon tetrachloride ("carbon tet") was used in fire extinguishers til it was found it caused liver damage. It can react with hot substances in a fire to produce phosgene (COCl2; oddly, it contains no phosphorus despite the name), used as a war gas.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIns
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisscientific earthling: Can you quantify your exposure,
to the solvents you mentioned?