The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that about 18 million children and adolescents are exposed to toxic e-waste globally.
The organization gave the statistics on Tuesday during the launch of its first report on e-waste and child health, adding that the the affected children are as young as 5 years.
The report was titled; “Children and Digital Dumpsites.”
WHO said; “Other children live, go to school and play near e-waste recycling centers where high levels of toxic chemicals, mostly lead and mercury, can damage their intellectual abilities
“Children exposed to e-waste are particularly vulnerable to the toxic chemicals they contain due to their smaller size, less developed organs and rapid rate of growth and development.
“They absorb more pollutants relative to their size and are less able to metabolize or eradicate toxic substances from their bodies.”
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said , “with mounting volumes of production and disposal, the world faces what one recent international forum described as a mounting “tsunami of e-waste,” putting lives and health at risk.
“In the same way the world has rallied to protect the seas and their ecosystems from plastic and microplastic pollution, we need to rally to protect our most valuable resource –the health of our children – from the growing threat of e-waste.”
Marie-Noel Brune Drisse, the lead WHO author on the report said, “For an expectant mother, exposure to toxic e-waste can affect the health and development of her unborn child for the rest of its life.”
“Potential adverse health effects include negative birth outcomes, such as stillbirth and premature births, as well as low birth weight and length.
“Exposure to lead from e-waste recycling activities has been associated with significantly reduced neonatal behavioral neurological assessment scores, increased rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavioral problems, changes in child temperament, sensory integration difficulties, and reduced cognitive and language scores.
“A child who eats just one chicken egg from Agbogbloshie, a waste site in Ghana, will absorb 220 times the European Food Safety Authority daily limit for intake of chlorinated dioxins.
“Improper e-waste management is the cause. This is a rising issue that many countries do not recognize yet as a health problem. If they do not act now, its impacts will have a devastating health effect on children and lay a heavy burden on the health sector in the years to come.”
“Children and adolescents have the right to grow and learn in a healthy environment, and exposure to electrical and electronic waste and its many toxic components unquestionably impacts that right,” said Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, at the WHO.
“The health sector can play a role by providing leadership and advocacy, conducting research, influencing policy-makers, engaging communities, and reaching out to other sectors to demand that health concerns be made central to e-waste policies.”
WHO said action is urgently required to protect the millions of children, adolescents and expectant mothers worldwide whose health states are jeopardized by the informal processing of discarded electrical or electronic devices.