As e-waste problem grows, Dell and other PC makers eliminate toxic chemicals from computers

Breaking News from across the 'net: U.S. Government to Buy Up Banks, Nationalize the Financial System Iceland's Currency Collapse Leading to Nationwide Food Shortages Ginkgo Reduces Brain Damage from Stroke by 50 Percent FDA Conspires with Cold Medicine Manufacturers to Keep Selling Dangerous Products to Four Year Olds      See all Breaking News... Get Our FREE Email Newsletter Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts. Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews. Join over 1.2 million monthly readers. Unsubscribe anytime, email privacy guaranteed Products Related to This Article* • Spirulina Pacifica Pure, pristine spirulina superfood for cancer prevention, alkalizing, immune func • Amaz-a-Power Amazing wild berry tincture from Peru for eye & brain protection, cancer prevention * Recommended by the Health Ranger. See more recommendations on right → Articles Related to This Article: • Interview with Randall Fitzgerald, author of The Hundred-Year Lie, on the prevalence of toxic chemicals • Plan To Spray Toxic Biological Chemicals Over San Francisco Announced • Consumer alert: Popular air fresheners found to contain toxic chemical

A separate report, published in 2004 by United Nations University, shows that the average PC uses 10 times its weight in hazardous chemicals and fossil fuels during production. The short life of computer hardware is also contributing to a rapidly growing heap of toxic waste, especially in India and China. About 70 percent of lead, mercury and other heavy-metal pollutants come from electronic waste. Thirty million computers are trashed every year in the United States alone.

The hazardous waste often used to make PCs includes: antimony trioxide, a flame retardant; arsenic and lead, used in cathode ray tubes; cadmium, used in the production of circuit boards and semiconductors; chromium in steel, which provides the unit's corrosion protection; cobalt in steel, which usually makes up a PC's structure and helps shield against magnetic fields; mercury used in both the switches and housing; polybrominated flame retardants used in plastic casings, cables and circuit boards; and selenium used in circuit boards as power supply rectifier.

In addition to the willingness to pay extra for more eco-friendly machines, those surveyed said manufacturers should take responsibility for the disposal of defunct PCs.

Greenpeace saluted Dell for its decision to use fewer hazardous chemicals, but noted that makers such as HP, Nokia, Sony and others have already announced similar plans. Other companies such as Acer, Apple, Siemens, IBM, Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba have not commented on any changes.

Greenpeace singled out Motorola as the only one of the top five cellular phone manufacturers that has not removed toxic waste from its production process, and says it has "backtracked" on environmental promises made previously.

###
Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Interview with Randall Fitzgerald, author of The Hundred-Year Lie, on the prevalence of toxic chemicals • Plan To Spray Toxic Biological Chemicals Over San Francisco Announced • Consumer alert: Popular air fresheners found to contain toxic chemical	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/019468.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/019468.html">As e-waste problem grows, Dell and other PC makers eliminate toxic chemicals from computers</a>