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  4. EPA's Lisa Jackson Advocates Crackdown on E-waste Trafficking

EPA's Lisa Jackson Advocates Crackdown on E-waste Trafficking

Date: May 26, 2010

Source: News Room

U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called for increased efforts to combat illegal trafficking of electronic waste (e-waste). Speaking at a meeting of Interpol's global e-waste crime group, Jackson said that growing demand from developed countries for the latest electronic gadgets was creating an ever larger volume of obsolete equipment that "too often ends up illegally overseas in developing countries, in countries like India and Africa -- on the African continent -- where labor is cheaper and workers are often less safe." "Through a combination of legislation and regulation, we know that we can create incentives to spur the design of better, safer electronics," Jackson said. "We can stop the problems you're all dealing with before they begin." She said the US "can take steps toward ratifying the Basel Convention." To date, the US has not ratified the 1989 treaty to regulate hazardous waste, including electronics that has already been signed by 165 countries. She also emphasized the importance of effective enforcement to combat illegal exports. A UN agency report released earlier this year warned of increasing electronic scrap ending up in developing countries where it leads to serious public health and environmental hazards.

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