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But only to the person opening them.

• tzs 10y ago
  Some of the high voltage tubes in old televisions could generate dangerous amounts of x-rays and so the manufacturers had to include shielding to keep those x-rays from escaping from the television. Someone futzing around in there without understanding this could damage or remove that shielding making that TV dangerous for those who are merely trying to use it. In the mid 1960s, GE sold about 90000 televisions that had a manufacturing problem with the shielding. These televisions were emitting something like 10000 times more x-rays than were considered acceptable for a consumer device. They were mostly emitted downward toward the front so most adult users of these televisions would not have been harmed, but kids often sat right in front of the TV and so were right in the path of the x-rays. GE successfully recalled and fixed most of these televisions. This incident is probably the origin of the myth that sitting too close to the television is bad for children's eyes.