[Moogs]

Found this at Ars:

Someone just sent the following worrisome link to an article on recent revelations about computer toxicity: "Toxic dust" found on computer processors and monitors contains chemicals linked to reproductive and neurological disorders, according to a new study by several environmental groups... Researchers collected samples of dust from dozens of computers in eight states, including university computer labs in New York, Michigan and Texas, legislative offices in California, and an interactive computer display at a children's museum in Maine. They tested for three types of brominated flame retardants suspected to be hazardous. The article goes on to mention that there may be a link between these chemicals and autism in children. This statement really jumped out at me, because it might make for a good explanation of the otherwise mysterious and anamolously high rate of autism in... you guessed it, Silicon Valley. Even if it's not the cause, it could very well be a contributing factor. (Note that I'm aware that computers aren't manufactured there. But there are a lot of computers there, both in homes and in workplaces, all possibly emitting toxins. So one implication of the article is that there might be a correlation between the number of computers per capita and the incidence of autism. This correlation could be tested, but you'd have to be careful about how you did the analysis. Different racial groups with different diets and genetic makeups tend to respond in different ways to toxins. So results obtained from, say, an office district in Singapore might not directly comparable.)