Title: China: The electronic wastebasket of the world | CNN
Headings: China: The electronic wastebasket of the world
China: The electronic wastebasket of the world
Story highlights
(CNN) —
Dirty, dangerous work
Toxic tech
It may not sound nice, but we don’t dare eat the rice that we farm because it’s planted here with all the pollution
Used to be worse
Domestic e-waste grows

Content: According to the April 2013 U.N. report “E-Waste in China,” Guiyu suffered an “environmental calamity” as a result of the wide-scale e-waste disposal industry in the area. Related Video Matchmaking: Chinese style
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Much of the toxic pollution comes from burning circuit boards, plastic and copper wires, or washing them with hydrochloric acid to recover valuable metals like copper and steel. In doing so, workshops contaminate workers and the environment with toxic heavy metals like lead, beryllium and cadmium, while also releasing hydrocarbon ashes into the air, water and soil, the report said. For first-time visitors to Guiyu, the air leaves a burning sensation in the eyes and nostrils. Toxic tech
Studies by the Shantou University Medical College revealed that many children tested in Guiyu had higher than average levels of lead in their blood, which can stunt the development of the brain and central nervous system. Piles of technological scrap had been dumped in a muddy field just outside of town. There, water buffalo grazed and soaked themselves in ponds surrounded by piles of electronic components with labels like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Epson and Dell. The enormous animals casually stomped through mounds of sheet glass, which clearly had been removed from video monitors. Flat screen displays often use mercury, a highly toxic metal.