Computer Hazards

Computer Hazards

I was reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring when I realized that its 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.

(Source for facts and figures: SCLF; and for the hazards and effects: various searches on the net)