CRT Monitors and our health...

[4DM]

Hi All,

 

I am currently sitting 60cm. in front of 2 x 21" CRT monitors, sometimes up to 15 hours a day, and 6 or 7 days a week when things get really busy. Have done for the last 3 or 4 years now.

 

Does anyone know if there is a long term health risk from this level of exposure to electromagnetic radiation from 2 CRTs on a daily basis?

 

I am getting a bit concerned about spending the years to come doing this all day, and I'm wondering if that 30" LCD Apple Display is starting to look more like a necessity than a ridiculous splurge?

 

So I was wondering:

 

- How many people here use CRTs, and how many use LCD screens for full-time work?

 

- Is the issue of colour accuracy vs. possible health effects worth the risk (if any)?

 

I would be very interested to know if there is any consensus on this, and what your opinions are, especially if anyone has any specific scientific or medical info.

 

Thanks for any replies!

 

Danny.

[Craig Ramsay]

I have just changed my 2 21 inch CRT's for 2 20 inch LCD's and I find them much better to work on as you get no glare from them.

 

One thing I can say is that for the past 4-5 years I have spent on front of 2 big monitors, my eyesight has got much worse!

[Trick]

http://www.nec-mitsubishi.com/coremedia/download/52250/Word-Doc_en

[Elliot]

Hello,

 

That article sound good but I think it is too biased. About 4 months ago I was determined to modernize and change my glass CRT to LCD's. Thanks to the two local computer stores I tried about 6 different LCD monitors. These monitors had to have a speed lower than 16ms and be 17 inches or higher.

 

None of them could beat the CRT. I ended up buying 4 CRT's. The MutlySync NEC monitors are good. The ViewSonic are not very good..... As matter of fact I am trying to return one of the ViewSonics, it has too many errors.

 

I have a brother who is an electrical engineer and a MRI neuroradiologist. He has been involved in a research quantifying radiation caused health problems. He keeps telling me that their data is not really correct and it is very in-accurate. He thinks he will never see in his lifetime any validation on these issues.

 

There are three things he is very carefull to avoid, RF from Cellular Phones, High Power shortwave frequency exposure and CRT's. We are both amateur radio enthusiasts since we were young kids. After college, I worked at high power high frequency transmitter site for a while. One thing I noticed during that time was that a lot of the personel working around high energy high frequency radiation environment have a tendency to have cancer and sterility problems. The US Federal Communication Commision has very stricts rules about RF (radio frequency) exposure. They have parameters that have to be monitored and can not be exceeded.

 

My brother and I have amateur radio transmitters in our cars that could operate at about 600 watts on HF frequencies. The antennas are on the back of the car but less than 7 feet away from the driver. Several years ago, my brother develop a strange problem with his vision. It was diagnosed as a blister on his retina. Similar to a blister when you get burned. It took him sometime too recover and during that time he drove a smaller car that didn't have the antenna. After he recovered he drove the car with the antenna once again. Several weeks later the blister re-appeared. He stopped driving the SUV once more and the blister eventually went away. This thing happened about 4 times until he finally started thinking that the problem was being caused by the RF radiation exposure. We both no longer use the amplifiers and moved the antennas to the opposite side of the driver. The retina blister never came back up again.

 

CRT's, like antennas produce radiation leakages, perhaps at different frequencies but nonetheless radiation leakages. I have always been concerned about these issues. I used to have a fantastic vision, it has gone bad quite considerably during the last 8 to 9 years. I know there is an aging problem. But this eye issue are paralel with my time behind the computer.

 

Just put two monitors next to each other and watch the radiation effect.... I am sure in a similar way that radiation has to heating human tissues and causing problems in your body.

 

This is an interesting subject that everybody should be aware off.

 

Thanks

Elliot

[Trick]

Eliot:

 

I already was afraid this was biased. What you are telling is very interesting.

[mwhite]

I'm not an expert on this, but I have read that the more expensive monitors have a higher lead level in the glass which is supposed to cut down on the radiation transmitted through the glass.

 

Now I just read in Business Week that Europe is going to start restricting heavy metals in all computor components since so much waste is ending up in landfills. If they eliminate lead from CRT screens I would think the radiation emitted would go through the roof. Again, I don't have any proof or science to back that up.

 

I would like to switch to an LCD but have not seen anything that I would want to work in 3D on for an extended period of time (or can afford right now) - that will probably change this year though.

 

Mike White

[gipper51]

My work recently upgraded all of our worstations and monitors. We went from 21" CRTs to 19" LCDs. I have noticed that I have a lot less eye strain at the end of the day than I did with my old CRT. Part of that I'm sure is because my big CRT did not sit back as far back in my desk as my LCD does. I don't know about the long term health risks, but I do enjoy viewing this LCD alot more for 8 hours a day.

 

I work 90% of the time in AutoCAD, and the other 10% between Photoshop, Pagemaker and Powerpoint. I don't consider myself a "graphics" guy, but most graphics pros right now say CRT is the way to go because of image quality, resolution, colors, etc. However, given the choice I would choose the LCD if I had to have only one to sit on my desk. The only thing I really liked better about the CRT was the lack of ghosting, but I can live with that.

[4DM]

Thanks for some of your replies, guys.

 

I guess overall the jury's still out on the risks then.

 

I would sacrifice colour quality for safety every time on principle, but I don't want to incur a big financial outlay unnecessarily, seeing as I have two perfectly well-functioning CRTs.

 

I would love to have a good reason to invest in that 30" Apple Display, though.

 

It looks like there is a mix of CRT and LCD users here at cga then, though I would be interested to see a few more responses before deciding which is the best way to go...anyone else want to chip in???

 

Perhaps I am just getting to that mid-life crisis stage when you start getting a bit cautious about health risks, when some of your friends start having to live with things like cancer, and you generally start to get nervous about your own mortality!

 

Cheers,

 

Danny.