3D printers are not potty trained

[varis]

Thanks for the replies guys, kind of helps to put things in the right ballpark! Obviously you won't drop dead if you print ABS right next to you but what I'm worried about is the case where you adopt 3D printing as a regular hobby and say you're exposed for 10 years or more, the long term effect could be quite significant.

I also did a quick google search, 33 000 hits with quite a bit of interesting material to read.

There are currently lots of surveys and examinations in the effects of 3d printer emissions.
Currently nobody has passed any legislation limiting them, so we can assume that they're about as safe as anything else in your home.

The quick impression I get is that some research has indeed been performed and that suggests that 3D printers do indeed emit ultra-fine particles, but further research is necessary to reliably estimate the health risk. States one study abstract:

Estimates of emission rates of total UFPs were large, ranging from ∼2.0 × 10¹⁰ # min⁻¹ for a 3D printer utilizing a polylactic acid (PLA) feedstock to ∼1.9 × 10¹¹ # min⁻¹ for the same type of 3D printer utilizing a higher temperature acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic feedstock. Because most of these devices are currently sold as standalone devices without any exhaust ventilation or filtration accessories, results herein suggest caution should be used when operating in inadequately ventilated or unfiltered indoor environments.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...52231013005086

So common sense would say that perhaps PLA is not such a high risk (in terms of the raw amount of emissions, on par with other household items like saucepans) but ABS sounds like it's at least an order of maginute worse (probably no surprise). It seems the printing material makes the greatest difference - in the future things might improve just by safer versions of PLA coming to the market.

The type of particles probably has a large effect but we just don't know the specifics. Looks like a very large research topic is how harmful UFP are overall - it's possible that the risk from existing household appliances has previously been underestimated as well.

It sounds like we're gradually becoming more and more health and safety conscious as science alerts us to new risks of technology that has been in use for a while. In 1960's people would probably have laughed if you had asked whether DDT or asbestos is really safe...

So have a nice read if you want to check out some of the links yourself:

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.or...f-3d-printing/
http://www.alternet.org/personal-hea...ve-health-risk
http://www.helsinki.fi/facultyofscie...Dprinting.html
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/02/yo...a-health-risk/
http://www.uvm.edu/safety/shop/3d-printer-safety#3D printing hazards
https://www.thingiverse.com/groups/e...ing/topic:6349
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3056315...ead-this-study
http://www.3ders.org/articles/201602...afest-bet.html
https://all3dp.com/3d-printing-toxic...ing-need-know/
http://www.cmu.edu/ehs/fact-sheets/3...ing-Safety.pdf