Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth by Jim Merkel http://www.radicalsimplicity.org/radical_simplicity.html http://www.radicalsimplicity.org/r

Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth by Jim Merkel http://www.radicalsimplicity.org/radical_simplicity.html http://www.radicalsimplicity.org/radical_simplicity.html an excerpt from page 5 ... a computer uses 1000 substances, including 350 different hazardous chemicals in it's manufacturing processes. (6) computers' designed obsolescence earned 20 million machines an early retirement in 1998. you also remember reading about the rural rice growing town of guiyu, china, which has become an electronic waste (e-waste) processing center. women and children earn $1.50 per day to strip computers down to components. soil and water tests there have revealed lead levels 2400 times greater than those allowed by the world health organization's guidelines. several other heavy metals tested far exceeded the environmental protection agency standards: barium by 10 times; tin by 152 times; chromium by 1338 times. a year after the operation started, the village had to truck in water. many of the substances are known carcinogens or cause birth defects and skin and lung irritation.(7) 6,7 puckett, jim and ted smith (editors.) Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia http://www.ban.org/library-page/order-films/exporting-harm-the-high-tech-trashing-of-asia/ http://www.ban.org/library-page/order-films/exporting-harm-t... seattle: Basal Action Network, 2002. a joint report issued with the silicon valley toxics coalition http://svtc.org/resources/reports/ http://svtc.org/resources/reports/