The Crucible revisited

At least the Puritan zealots hanged their witches.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/08/png.witchcraft/index.html

This is on the heels of listening to a 60 Minutes podcast that focused on E-waste. This is the tons of computers, cell phones, ipods, and other forms of technology that are tossed out every year. While there are some legitimate recycling centers in America, a number of American recycling centers disobey laws and simply sell it to the East Asian black markets.

A news crew visited one town devoted to stockpiling all of this E-waste. What few people realize is how truly hazardous something as simple as a TV or computer monitor can be (containing quite a bit of lead as well as other chemicals and compounds).

The news crew, before being attacked by some gangsters who were making a mint off of the illegal trade of E-waste, had a soil sample confiscated and almost had their cameras taken away until they were able to wrestle them back.

The news crew found villagers, who work for all of eight dollars a day, melting down hard rives for the bits of copper and gold. Scientists who have studied the area found that 7 out of 10 children in the village have significant amounts of lead in their blood.

Yet, the villagers are able to live with all the toxic chemicals they inhale from the fires used to melt down the components, which they then pick through and turn over the vital metals to the gangsters, as well as burns on their hands since they use a medieval type of smelting device to melt down the materials.

The irony of this was not lost on the reporter - here the most advanced technology of the 21st century runs right into practices from the 17th century.

I couldn't help but think of Jurgis and his family - as well as other immigrants who were exploited by the Chicago meat packing industry at the close of the 19th century. I guess it's The Jungle revisited too.