more and more people are demanding new functions and fresh design from their electronic Goods in Korea more than 15 million mobiles are thrown away each year and millions more other electronic Goods meet the same fate but where do they all go the city of guango China huge piles of dumped electronic Goods the city looks like a huge refu stump the environment's getting worse you can see the rubbish anywhere it's like a trash Castle we are now using more and more electronic products in our daily lives now after they became obsolet many of them are being
dumbed in China and causing serious pollution here because of the hesit substances inside including Mercury and Lead these electronic Goods designed to improve the lifestyles of the wealthy are in fact destroying the quality of life in this part of guango guangzu the third largest trading city in China following Beijing and Shanghai it connects Hong Kong maau and the mainland and is growing economically at a fast pace guangzu Port the first beneficiary of special economic zone status in China is always bustling with containers being unloaded from across the world some of the containers are actually full
of old electronic Goods at a quiet spot a few miles away from the port we can see people are busy unloading a container they are all old Goods like computers and television sets according to a un report 70% of the world's electronic Refuge is sent to China the majority of the Refuge originates in the west by sending it to other countries Western countries save money and avoid the environmental restrictions in their own countries the Lor is filled with old computers and TV sets stop at guu as soon as we arrive we can see the many
bags propped up by each house the bags are full of electronic refu the whole village is just like a big Refuge dump and while we were staying in the town we witnessed at least 30 lorries coming as soon as the lores unloaded The Goods the workers started disassembling the machines they just use their bare hands without any safeguards how many hours a day do you work 10 hours I can't see any safety precautions isn't it dangerous yes it is I'm actually worried about my health but I need to make money what more can I do
the wage for 10 hours labor is only about $2 us much less than the $10 average for a full-time job half the workers are actually ex Farmers who've come to the city to find jobs according to the government statistical data about 120,000 local people and 100,000 people from other towns are working for this industry by contract the old machines are supposed to be used in China they're considered secondhand Goods not for disassembly so the work being done in this Village is absolutely illegal our crew went undercover as wholesale dealers and approached one Factory the wire
semiconductor chips and other parts were sorted by kind and stacked we're disassembling all the parts and selling them one by one not a whole machine you see this part there's gold inside you can extract the gold from it the workplace and process he showed us after the explanation were quite shocking while the workers were heating the bottom of main boards of computers to extract microchips the fumes made their unprotected eyes smart these workers have nothing to protect themselves from the harmful fumes the smoke coming from the burner is actually lead gas when people inhale the
lead gas the lead accumulates inside the human body and fatally damages the brain the smoke is too strong to breathe I feel dizzy and I can't see anymore the toxic gas is not the only problem the plastic and glass from the machines are dumped anywhere and burned with no regard to pollution the smoke filled with toxic chemicals spreads all over the village and the ashes run through the river people told us that most of the old people and Children of the village are suffering from a spiritual ailments or skin disease a young man from sashan
said that he got strange bruises and hurt all over his body after starting work with an incinerator [Music] the bruise was very small at first just like a mosquito sting but it was getting bigger and bigger it was no use putting a plaster on now it stops me sleeping he tried medical treatment but said it wasn't working the symptoms were getting worse and his colleagues were in a similar situation I wasn't the only person to quit the job after getting sick my colleagues also got sick after two two or three years working there and stopped
[Music] working his daily wages were about $5 us it wasn't a bad wage but he couldn't bear the smoke anymore he's now a cycle taxi the pollution of the river is also very serious The Villages of guu must buy water carried from the Nanjing area 30 km away if they want to have proper drinking water many people however are still using Subterranean water for farming and drinking and they are in danger of metal poisoning in 2005 santu medical school and an international environmental organization had a medical examination for guu people and the result was much
worse than than they expected more than 80% of guu children tested positive for zinc poisoning the content of copper and lead in their blood was also much more than children living in other areas metal poisoning poses a fatal threat to the human body especially for children causing serious diseases or lesions the metal retards physical and psychological development it can cause various disorders as the people are becoming aware of the problem of electronic refug the Chinese government has begun to regulate its disposal however they're fighting a battle with the West America the world's biggest Refuge exporter
has legalized refug export and refuge Traders continue to profit from this clearly a more radical solution is needed the fundamental cause of the problem is the toxic content of electronic refu the multinational corporations producing the goods are all responsible for the problem they must find a way to reduce the toxic content of their produce equally we as consumers should be aware that old machines we away so carelessly are threatening lives in Africa and Asia [Music]
