E-waste is a serious environmental problem, from toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching into soils in landfills, to the pollution to air and water supplies caused through improper recycling techniques in developing countries. While we know e-waste is harmful to human health, particularly to those working directly with it in e-waste dumps, new research sheds light on exactly how it impacts us, Science Daily Reported. Science Daily brings our attention to a new study published in Environmental Research Letters that took air samples from Taizhou of Zhejiang province in China one of the largest dismantling areas in the country that uses 60,000 people to dismantle over two million tons of e-waste annually and explored how the chemicals found in that air affects human lungs. The researchers found that e-waste pollution in the air, that workers in these e-waste dumps breath in constantly, cause inflammation and stress that lead to heart disease, DNA damage and possibly even cancer.
