Toxic Mac Pro's emitting benzene?
Summary: Mac Pro owners, listen up. A french newspaper Liberation.
Mac Pro owners, listen up.
A french newspaper Liberation.fr has published a report (English translation) stating that Mac Pro owners run the risk of getting diseases as dangerous as leukemia (blood cancer) simply by using their computer. The newspaper was warned by a national agency scientist that the smell (already detected by many Mac Pro users on Apple forums) is actually toxic, composed of several toxins, including benzene.
An Apple Core reader requesting anonymity, sends the following details:
Here's a proof that the smell problem was previously known, check this page.
The real news here is that the smell is toxic... but still no official answer from Apple. I've submitted this piece of news to let english-speaking Mac Pro users know about it (since it was published in french). Libération is a very well known newspaper in France, it's not a blog or anything like that, so normally you should be able to trust this article.
I just called AppleCare (in France). They confirmed the problem but they told me it only concerned Mac Pros built before 2008 (without mentioning if being built in China was a condition, as suspected by users on the Apple forums). Mine is early 2008 so I should not worry they said.
When I asked them to send me this answer in written form, even by e-mail, they refused. They put me on hold for 40 minutes to forward me to the customer relations service, but apparently they didn't want to talk to me so I got instead a level 2 technical agent who told me the exact same thing: don't worry, we guess your Mac Pro is safe, but we can't confirm in written form which Mac Pro have toxicity problems until Apple decides to communicate about it. Apple did nothing since they knew of this problem, which may be in the beginning of 2007, so we can still wait very long for any change in their policy...
The fact that my Mac Pro may not be concerned is not the problem I have with their answer. The problem is that I could very well own one of those toxic Mac Pro and never know about it, with Apple never issuing a Mac Pro recall to prevent serious health problems. Considering the problem exists for more than a year, some people have been knowingly exposed to toxins, and if some of them ever develop a blood cancer it will not be before some years, and Apple will silently get out of this problem. This problem is as bad for Apple as the contaminated milk problem for China, and it may very well be the first scandal of this kind in the computer industry.
Apple doesn't want to confirm which Mac Pro have a problem because they know users could sue them for this reason. I invite all Mac Pro owners around the world to send a letter to Apple and ask them which Mac Pro have the toxicity problem, in written form. If Apple doesn't change its methods very fast, a class-action lawsuit may unfortunately be the next step...
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Talkback
So what is the source of the issue?
Craziness
Have you at least read the translated article?
Consider the source
Greenpeace or most any such irrationally aggressive
activist group is involved.
I also take such pronouncements with a grain of salt when
it issues from France--the folks who still believe Lance
Armstrong used illegal chemicals to win all those Tours de
France, no matter how many tests he took, and passed.
Let's have some more research by an objective lab or two.
If Apple is introducing a toxin in their products, they must
pay to clean it up and make any customers whole. If not, a
strong apology would be in order.
This is a globally anti-French statement
Furthermore the Lance Armstrong affair is out of context, and one of the urine samples was found to contain EPO but only later, after it could legally mean something, so this explains the suspicion.
LOL
issue solved
Must be...
went to the Intel chip, Apple computers are physically
"exactly like PCs." If so, there must be a more widespread
problem. We need an investigation that is equally
widespread!
No wonder MBP fans love Apple
MacBook Pro have no problem, it's Mac Pro only
Rotten Apples
Seems like a familar refrain.
Ata boy Stevie! You're getting more like Steve Ballmer every day.
:-(
More than cyder inside...
Benzene > Kool-Aid
RE: Toxic Mac Pro's emitting benzene?
Dude....
Haven't you seen those commercials on TV?
Don't go see a doctor...
friends and brag about it!
better still, find 5 "friends" and show off, or utilise
Consumer hypocrisy always entertaining
Plastics generate toxins. Smelting metal generates toxins. Etching PCB boards generates toxins.
Normally most of these get absorbed into the environment where the machine is made (ie. China) and the end-user really doesn't have a have a clue.
Now we get yuppies in first-world G8 countries getting exposed to benzene vapors and all of a sudden what was OK for Chinese workers to get exposed to is now a major health crisis.
I'm pretty sure any lawsuit will force Apple to replace the machines, but not a single "outraged" MAC user will care if the toxic soup that's required to manufacture a modern computer continues to get spewed into the environment on the other side of the globe.
The difference is that during manufacturing