subject: E-waste threatens health in Chinese town [print this page] Today, electronic waste from computers as well as other electronic products is heaping up and consistently threatening to environment and health. The processing of electronic waste in a southern Chinese town has surfaced gravely and caused severe health problems to local communities. According to the US Environment Protection Agency, EPA, China is the destination of 70 percent e-waste of the world. Every year, millions of tones of e-waste pile up in china for recycling and cottage industry. The harmful emission released by the hazardous components is polluting the environment of the globe. Various researches conducted in recent years have proved that wind carried contaminate, and taints from Asia and affected the entire world.
Huo Xia, the professor at Shantou University Medical College, expressed his concern, "The workers use acid to process e-waste or burn it to get rare metals like gold. Sometimes they work without any preventive measures, and the solutions remaining after processing are discharged directly to the environment."
In Guiyu, a town in the Guangdong province of southern China, Children are directly exposed to the toxic heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Most of them fall sick and have little life expectancy.
A long five-year study report, which was published in Environmental Research, by Huo and his colleagues reveals high amount of blood cadmium levels (BCLs), and the blood lead levels (BLLs) found in 154 Guiyu children under the age of eight. They found that more than 70.8 per cent of the children in the town had BLLs at the level of lead poisoning and 20.1 per cent had BCLs.
Another unpublished study on pregnant women in the areas situated some kilometers away from Guiyu found that the rate of foetus death in Guiyu was six times higher and premature delivery as well as low birth weight was approximately 62 per cent higher in comparison to the other areas.
Electronic industries are persistent in escalating the health concerning issues. Therefore, recycling is far better way to prevent the serious damage of global environment and health.
The users can contact recycling companies such as www.Asset-RecoveryServices.com for more information on electronic recycling.
