TCO’95 is a co-operative project between TCO (The Swedish
Confederation of Professional Employees), Naturskyddsforeningen
(The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation) and
NUTEK
(The
National Board for Industrial and Technical Development in Sweden).
Environmental Requirements
Brominated flame retardants
Brominated flame retardants are present in printed circuit boards,
cables, wires, casings and housings. In turn, they delay the spread of
fire. Up to thirty percent of the plastic in a computer casing can consist
of flame retardant substances. These are related to another group of
environmental toxins, PCBs, which are suspected to give rise to similar
harm, including reproductive damage in fisheating birds and mammals,
due to the bio-accumulative* processes. Flame retardants have been
found in human blood and researchers fear that disturbances in foetus
development may occur.
TCO’95 demand requires that plastic components weighing more than
25 grams must not contain organically bound chlorine and bromine.
Lead**
Lead can be found in picture tubes, display screens, solders and
capacitors. Lead damages the nervous system and in higher doses,
causes lead poisoning.
TCO’95 requirement permits the inclusion of lead since no replacement
has yet been developed.
Cadmium**
Cadmium is present in rechargeable batteries and in the
colourgenerating layers of certain computer displays. Cadmium
damages the nervous system and is toxic in high doses.
TCO’95 requirement states that batteries may not contain more than 25
ppm (parts per million) of cadmium. The colour-generating layers of
display screens must not contain any cadmium.
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