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Article

25 Jun 2012

Author:
china-pix.com

[video] Guiyu, the largest e-waste site on earth [China]

[Guiyu is the largest e-waste site on earth...[T]he People’s Daily said that in 2006 that Guiyu’s 5,500 e-waste businesses employed 30,000 people. According to the local government website, city businesses process 1.5m tones of e-waste a year…As much as 80% of it comes from overseas…as [it is] 10 times cheaper to export the waste…for the US, and safety rules skyrocket domestic disposal costs, say the US EPA…Metal extraction of circuit boards along with open dumping…has destroyed the well water and groundwater of Guiyu, making it undrinkable. Water is trucked in from distant villages. [O]ne water sample showed levels of lead to be 190 times higher than the safe level of drinking water set by the WHO. Children in Guiyu have a much higher lead poisoning rate, 69% in 2006, and lower IQ scores than children elsewhere…]