~e; electromagnetic-waste

[bc <human@electronetwork.org>]

  [e-waste, a growing issue, and following the trend of low-tech nuclear
  disposal (dump it on land or in the ocean, and get paid lots of money).]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

  U.S.A. waste is a third-world hazard. Associated Press.
full article at: http://wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50645,00.html

  "SAN JOSE, California -- What happened to that old computer after 
you sold it to a secondhand parts dealer?

Environmental groups say there's a good chance it ended up in a Third 
World dump, where thousands of laborers burn, smash and pick apart 
electronic waste to scavenge for the precious metals inside, 
unwittingly exposing themselves and their surroundings to innumerable 
toxic hazards.

A report being released Monday documents one such "cyber-age 
nightmare" a cluster of villages in southeastern China where 
computers still bearing the labels of their former owners in America 
are ripped apart and discarded along rivers and fields.

The authors of the report, called "Exporting Harm: The High-Tech 
Trashing of Asia," hope it puts pressure on U.S. companies and 
lawmakers to increase domestic recycling efforts.

..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TECH21
Group exposes America's dirty tech secret
Henry Norr
Monday, February 25, 2002
full article at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/25/BU212924.DTL

"Amid terrorism, war, recession and Enron, I can sympathize if you 
feel you don't have much bandwidth left over to worry about e-waste 
-- the millions of tons of unwanted PCs, monitors, TVs, phones and 
other toxic-laden electronic gear piling up in garages, closets and 
warehouses across the country and around the world.

But like it or not, the issue is too big, too concrete and 
potentially too dangerous to stay under the rug much longer. And 
people who have come to understand the stakes -- not just 
environmental activists, but also a fast- growing band of state and 
local officials -- aren't going to let us leave it there.

DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

A report scheduled for release today provides devastating evidence of 
a phenomenon that has long been suspected but never before 
documented: Huge quantities of scrap electronics from the United 
States wind up in impoverished regions of Asia, where valued material 
is extracted by primitive methods that are highly dangerous to the 
health of the workers involved and to the environment.

Titled "Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia," the report 
will be published jointly by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition of 
San Jose (on whose site, www.svtc.org, it should be posted) and by 
the Basel Action Network, a global group, based in Seattle, that 
seeks limits on international trade in toxic material.

Major contributions to the report were also made by three 
nongovernmental organizations in Asia: Greenpeace China, Toxics Link 
India, and SCOPE (Society for Conservation and Protection of the 
Environment) of Pakistan.

..."

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