I was reading Rachel Carson’s
Silent Spring
I realized that it is not only pesticides and insenticides that are
hazardous to health, computers themselves are housing some of the most
dangerous chemicals on earth. Here’s a few of them and their effects on
mankind.
Lead
Lead is one of the few natural
substances that has no use in the human body. At even very low levels,
Lead has been shown to cause health problems. The difficulty with Lead
is that once it is mined from the earth, there is no known way to
destroy or make it harmless.
Lead can damages the central and
peripheral nervous systems, blood system and kidneys in humans. Lead
accumulates in the environment and has effects on plants, animals and
microorganisms.
Consumer electronics constitute 40% of lead
found in landfills and scrapyards. An average computer uses 4 pounds of
Lead, i.e., 6.2% of the total weight of the PC. The recyclable
efficiency of Lead is a low 5%.
The two main uses of Lead in Consumer Electronics are for soldering of
PCBs and other electronic components. And Glass panels in computer monitors (cathode ray tubes)
Between
1997 and 2004, over 315 million computers will become obsolete is the
USA. This adds up to about 1.2 billion pounds of lead!
Cadmium
Cadmium
is an extremely toxic metal with a possible risk of irreversible
effects on human health. Cadmium and cadmium compounds accumulate in
the human body, in particular in kidneys. Cadmium is absorbed mainly
through respiration but also enters as food. Due to the long half-life
(30 years), cadmium can easily be accumulated in amounts that cause
symptoms of poisoning. Cadmium shows a danger of cumulative effects in
the environment due to its acute and chronic toxicity.
In electrical and electronic equipment, cadmium occurs in certain components such as
SMD,
chip resistors, infrared detectors and semiconductors. Older types of
cathode ray tubes contain cadmium. Furthermore, cadmium is used as a
plastic stabilizer. It is also used in Batteries,
PWBs, etc.
Between
1997 to 2004 over 315 million computers will become obsolete and this
represents almost 2 million pounds of cadmium content.
Mercury
Mercury
is a powerful poison. Published research has shown that mercury, even
in small amounts, is more toxic than lead, cadmium and even arsenic! It
is estimated that 22 % of the yearly world consumption of mercury is
used in electrical and electronic equipment. It is used in mobile
phones, Batteries,
PWBs.
Although mercury is just 0.0022% of the total weight of the computer,
it is still a health hazard, 315 million obsolete computers by the year
2004 represent more than 400,000 pounds of mercury in total.
Other hazardous metals used in electronics are: Arsenic (0.0013%), Barium (0.0315%), Selenium (0.0016%), Silver (0.0189%).
I
don’t know if anyone will change their lifestyle and turn to the stone
age after reading this and so many other health articles, but still, I
thought one should be aware of the environmental and health hazards of
computers.
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