India's poor scrape a dangerous living in new 'e-waste' jobs

India's poor scrape a dangerous living in new 'e-waste' jobs

India's poor scrape a dangerous living in new 'e-waste' jobs

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 04:01 PM PDT

By Elizabeth Roche

FEATURE NEW DELHI: Young rag-pickers sifting through rubbish are a common image of India's chronic poverty, but destitute children face new hazards picking apart old computers as part of the growing "e-waste" industry.

Asif, aged seven, spends his days dismantling electronic equipment in a tiny, dimly-lit unit in east Delhi along with six other boys.

"My work is to pick out these small black boxes," he said, fingers deftly prising out integrated circuits from the pile of computer remains stacked high beside him.

His older brother Salim, 12, is also hard at work instead of being at school. He is extracting tiny transistors and capacitors from wire boards.

The brothers, who decline to reveal how much they earn a day, say they are kept frantically busy as increasing numbers of computers, printers and other electronic goods are discarded by offices and homes.

Few statistics are known about the informal "e-waste" industry, but a United Nations report launched in February described how mountains of hazardous waste from electronic products are growing exponentially in developing countries.

It said India would have 500% more e-waste from old computers in 2020 than in 2007, and 18 times more old mobile phones.

The risks posed to those who handle the cast-offs are clear to TK Joshi, head of the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi.

He studied 250 people working in the city as recyclers and dismantlers over 12 months to October 2009 and found almost all suffered from breathing problems such as asthma and bronchitis.

"We found dangerously high levels -- 10 to 20 times higher than normal -- of lead, mercury and chromium in blood and urine samples," he said.

"All these have a detrimental effect on the respiratory, urinary and digestive systems, besides crippling immunity and causing cancer."

Precious metals

Toxic metals and poisons enter workers' bloodstreams during the laborious manual extraction process and when equipment is crudely treated to collect tiny quantities of precious metals.

"The recovery of metals like gold, platinum, copper and lead uses caustic soda and concentrated acids," said Joshi.

"Workers dip their hands in poisonous chemicals for long hours. They are also exposed to fumes of highly concentrated acid."

Safety gear such as gloves, face masks and ventilation fans are virtually unheard of, and workers -- many of them children -- often have little idea of what they are handling.

"All the workers we surveyed were unaware of the dangers they were exposed to. They were all illiterate and desperate for employment," said Joshi. "Their choice is clear -- either die of hunger or of metal poisoning."

And he warned exposure to e-waste by-products such as cadmium and lead could result in a slow, painful death.

"They can't sleep or walk," he said. "They are wasted by the time they reach 35-40 years of age and incapable of working."

There are no estimates of how many people die in India from e-waste poisoning as ill workers generally drift back to their villages when they can no longer earn a living.

"The irony is that the amounts of gold and platinum they extract are traces -- fractions of a milligramme," said Priti Mahesh, programme coordinator of the New Delhi-based Toxic Link environment group.

"Computers, televisions and mobile phones are most dangerous because they have high levels of lead, mercury and cadmium -- and they have short life-spans so are discarded more," she said.

Informal workers

The Indian government has proposed a law to regulate the e-waste trade, but Delhi environment group, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said any legislation would miss the army of informal workers such as brothers Asif and Salim.

"The proposed law says only big firms should be in the business of recycling and dismantling," said Kushal Pal Singh Yadav, a CSE campaigner.

"This is not going to work because the informal sector already has a cheap system of collection, disposal or recycling in place -- so people will use that."

For Joshi, the sight of children working in appalling conditions taking computers apart is as potent a symbol of India's deep troubles as rag-pickers sorting through stinking household rubbish dumps.

"India needs laws which will protect workers' interests, especially the vulnerable and children. We have a lot to learn from Western societies about workers' rights," he said.

- AFP

 

 

 

Greenpeace names and shames companies over Indonesia paper

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:57 PM PDT

JAKARTA: Major foreign firms like Walmart and KFC are contributing to forest destruction and the loss of species like Sumatran tigers by buying from Indonesian paper giant Sinar Mas, Greenpeace said today.

It said Sinar Mas subsidiary Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) was "relentlessly trashing rainforests" and driving species to extinction in the Southeast Asian archipelago.

"Sinar Mas' 'sustainability commitments' are not worth the paper they are written on and some of the world's best known brands are literally pulping the planet by buying from them," Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said in a statement.

A Greenpeace report called "How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet" accuses major international companies of being complicit in the rampant destruction of Indonesia's rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands by buying from APP.

It accused Sinar Mas of illegal logging in sensitive areas on Sumatra island, where lowland forests have been decimated by years of deforestation.

One of the areas, the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape, is home to endangered Sumatran tigers and orangutans.

The other area, Kerumutan, is covered in peatlands which are a "key defence against climate change" because they lock in carbon that is released into the atmosphere when the forest cover is removed by logging, Greenpeace said.

"Some of the forest's peat is deeper than three metres (10 feet) and thus illegal to clear under Indonesian law," Greenpeace said.

"Sinar Mas's paper arm APP uses the logs from these rainforest areas to feed its Sumatran based pulp mills, which export pulp and paper products worldwide."

The destruction of rainforests and peatlands is the main reason Indonesia is considered the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

- AFP

Celebrations as Dalai Lama turns 75

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:52 PM PDT

By Adam Plowright

DHARAMSHALA: The Dalai Lama turned 75 today, a milestone marked by celebrations in his hometown-in-exile but also reflection on 50 years of fruitless negotiations with China on the future of Tibet.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was to address a crowd of 5,000 followers at his temple in McLeod Ganj, a hill station in the Indian Himalayas where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

In apparently fine health, the Buddhist spiritual leader will break with recent birthday tradition and greet well-wishers in person.

"This time, as it's his 75th birthday, he also wanted to join the function," said Tashi Norbu, an official in the Tibetan government-in-exile based in nearby Dharamshala.

Elsewhere, Tibetan communities in North America, Europe and Australia are gearing up for cultural events to celebrate the day, while numerous Internet campaigns are collecting birthday messages.

At an age when most others are putting their feet up, the Dalai Lama keeps up a globe-trotting schedule that would tire someone half his age, travelling to countries willing to defy Chinese pressure not to grant him a visa.

China vilifies the exiled monk as a separatist. He denies the charge, maintaining he only wants "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet under Chinese rule.

In an average year, he is away from home for about half the time and in the past 12 months he has visited France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, the United States (twice), Taiwan and most recently Japan.

As the years go by, however, thoughts are inevitably turning to the issue of succession.

The Dalai Lama has been in hospital twice in recent times -- for a pinched nerve in February last year and for surgery to remove stones from his gall bladder in October 2008.

Global sympathy

While decades of on-off negotiations with Beijing have seen no tangible progress, the Nobel peace laureate has been extremely successful in keeping the Tibet issue alive with a campaign that continues to attract global sympathy.

There is, however, concern that his death might prove a fatal blow to the cohesion and momentum of the Tibetan movement that has relied for so long on his leadership and the reverence in which he is held by the exiled community and beyond.

China has already indicated that it will take a hard line on the selection of a successor, with Qiangba Puncog, Tibet's former governor, insisting in March that final approval lies with Beijing.

Traditionally, the search for a new Dalai Lama is conducted by high lamas who fan out across Tibet to find the reincarnation.

Using ritualistic clues, the current Dalai Lama was plucked from his impoverished parents' home aged four.

Senior exiled Tibetans argue that their movement is bigger than any one personality and will survive the passing of its long-time leader.

"What we believe very strongly is that the issue of Tibet will not die," the Dalai Lama's chief representative, Tempa Tsering, said during a visit to Japan in April.

- AFP

Man freezes to death in Taiwan heatwave

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:18 PM PDT

TAIPEI: A 38-year-old Taiwanese man froze to death as a heatwave swept the island after he walked into a refrigeration room to cool off and apparently suffered hypothermia, police said today.

Chen Sung-mou, a worker at a sugar factory on the offshore island of Penghu, was found unconscious inside the room on Sunday and was pronounced dead in hospital, police said.

He had apparently entered the room to seek refuge from the heat, police said.

But it appeared that hypothermia caused him to fall asleep, trapping him inside the room, even though the door was unlocked.

A heat wave has hit Taiwan in recent days, with temperatures reaching 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) in Taipei today.

- AFP

Twelve die as Turkish troops clash with PKK

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 12:14 AM PDT

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Kurdish guerrillas attacked a military outpost in southeast Turkey overnight, triggering a clash in which nine militants and three soldiers were killed, security sources said on Tuesday.


Iran planes are getting fuel - foreign ministry

Posted: 06 Jul 2010 12:14 AM PDT

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian planes are getting fuel at airports around the world, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday, denying reports that some countries were refusing supplies due to sanctions.


Ex-Taliban governor sees little hope for Afghan peace

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:36 PM PDT

KABUL, July 6 — A former Taliban governor turned Afghan government official dismissed the peace process as a "joke", saying Afghanistan cannot seek peace with the insurgents only by trying to woo their rank and file. "Peace cannot come to Afghanistan through the junior Taliban," the 59-year-old Mullah Abdul Salaam told Reuters in an interview in ...


Obama, Israel's Netanyahu to hold fence-mending talks

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:56 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet on Tuesday seeking to show they have turned the page on an unusually rocky period in relations between Washington and its close ally.


Sarkozy's office denies heiress donation report

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:56 PM PDT

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy's office denied on Tuesday a media report that he had received a 150,000 euro ($201,300) cash donation from France's richest woman for his 2007 presidential election campaign.


Indonesia's Sinar Mas "clearing rainforest" - group

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:56 PM PDT

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Greenpeace levelled on Tuesday new accusations of rainforest destruction against Indonesian agribusiness giant Sinar Mas and urged retailers Carrefour and Walmart to stop buying their products.


Iran planes are getting fuel - foreign ministry

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:56 PM PDT

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian planes are getting fuel at airports around the world, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday, denying reports that some countries were refusing supplies due to sanctions.


China nabs multi-billion soccer gambling gang - report

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:16 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police smashed an illegal gambling gang that hoped to score big from the World Cup, with the alleged ringleader "Dark Brother" accused over dealings worth 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion), a newspaper said on Tuesday.


Govt to closely monitor 10MP implementation

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:38 PM PDT

To retain economic growth momentum, the government will ensure that all measures outlined in the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) are implemented and closely monitored, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

read more

Corporate governance should not be a mere bureaucratic function

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:37 PM PDT

Corporate governance should not be a mere bureaucratic function under the purview of a compliance or internal audit department but must cut across every function, job and role in an organisation, said The Raja Muda of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah.

read more

Dept stops issuing 1M.101 document for travel to Indonesia

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:34 PM PDT

The Immigration Department has temporarily stopped the issuance of the 1M.101 collective travel document in lieu of passport for travel to Indonesia, effective immediately.

read more

Umno not a party which idolises leaders

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:32 PM PDT

Umno is not a "prima donna" party based on the adulation for certain leaders, but a party which upholds the struggle and pursues the Malay interests, Kelantan Umno liaison chief Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said.

read more

Dewan Rakyat extends sitting by two days

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:30 PM PDT

The current session of the Dewan Rakyat, which is scheduled to end on July 13, has been extended by two more days until July 15 to complete all pending matters.

read more

Man freezes to death in Taiwan heatwave: police

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:28 PM PDT

TAIPEI, Tuesday 6 July 2010 (AFP) - A 38-year-old Taiwanese man froze to death as a heatwave swept the island after he walked into a refrigeration room to cool off and apparently suffered hypothermia, police said Tuesday.

read more

Sri Lanka dismisses EU withdrawal of trade concessions

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:27 PM PDT

COLOMBO, Tuesday 6 July 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka on Tuesday shrugged off a European Union decision to withdraw tariff concessions over the island's failure to guarantee an improvement in its human rights record.

read more

China to pump 100 billion dollars into western regions

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:23 PM PDT

BEIJING, Tuesday 6 July 2010 (AFP) - China has said it will invest more than 100 billion dollars this year in 23 new infrastructure projects in impoverished western regions as part of efforts to boost domestic demand.

read more

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)