How Lead In Recycled Electronics Can Poison Workers' Families

In 2009, when Anthony Harrell accepted a job at an electronics scrap recycling facility in Cincinnati, he was happy to have found work that he liked and that would let him provide for his wife and two children. Harrell’s job was to feed discarded computer monitors and televisions to the Angel-Devil, a truck-sized shredding machine that chopped up cathode ray tubes and ground the glass from the screens into powder. He earned $10 per hour for his labor. After his eight-hour shift, clad in the same skully hat and street clothes he typically wore throughout each day, he would greet his family, waiting in a car outside. His infant daughter Jeriyah was especially eager to be held and hugged, he recalled recently. He didn’t know that those cuddles were poisoning his baby. The glass of the cathode ray tubes that Harrell disassembled every day for almost a year contained a huge quantity of lead -- a potent toxin that, if inhaled or ingested, can damage developing brains and organs, and harm adults’ reproductive and renal systems. Even a small dose, if it ends up in a child’s bloodstream, can stunt development and cause lifelong learning problems, doctors say. Each time Harrell’s children would touch his hair and hands, or hug him after work, they would inadvertently come in contact with the toxic metal, which is difficult to wash off with normal soap. Jeriyah, now 6, takes medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and has a hard time lea...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news