Wednesday, May 6, 2009

THE NEWS

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last year, the EPA is doing a pretty lousy job of regulating the export of e-waste from U.S. companies to the developing world, where junked electronics are often dismantled and discarded in all sorts of hazardous ways. The biggest concern is over the export of old computers, monitors, and televisions, all of which contain lead-rich cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), and which—once in China or Nigeria—are often burned or cooked in acid baths in order to extract trace quantities of recyclable materials such as copper and gold. Doing so can release significant quantities of lead and other toxins into water sources and the ground at large.