Abstract: A chemical filter is provided for preventing pollutants in the atmosphere from contaminating sensitive electronic equipment, such as hard disc drives. The chemical filter comprises a layer of charcoal or charcoal-impregnated foam to remove organic contaminants and at least one layer of a high surface area metal to remove inorganic pollutants, such as SO.sub.2, H.sub.2 S, NO.sub.2 and Cl.sub.2. In one embodiment, the chemical filter comprises a layer of charcoal, a layer of a copper foam, a layer of a nickel foam and a layer of a particle filter.A method is also provided for preventing pollutant molecules in the atmosphere from contaminating electronic equipment. The method comprises interposing the chemical filter of the invention between the electronic equipment and the source of the pollution, introducing polluted air into the chemical filter, reacting pollutant molecules with the high surface area metal, and introducing filtered air to the electronic equipment.