Significant addendum to last week's blog re: the scourge of counterfeit electronics. This chilling paragraph comes from the website of American Electronics Resource, in the same article cited last week that alluded to bogus airplane parts:
The counterfeiting process also affects the lives of men, women, and children living in the more impoverished areas of the world. Half of all of the computers disposed of globally are illegally sent to countries like China, India and Nigeria to remove the valuable parts and materials. It is estimated that 50% of children 12 years or older in the so called “e-waste” cities have dangerous levels of lead in their blood. This will lead to devastating health problems and severely decreased IQs for these already disadvantaged children. Many of the affected children are actually used in the process of counterfeiting. Even those that are not part of the trade are surrounded by the environmental hazards such as the constant burning of the final scrap which leaves a haze of chemical smoke in the air.
I think those words speak for themselves. Those RoHS laws aren't just about business. It's about people, and our responsibilities as inhabitants of this planet, to this planet. Do I even have to bother linking to something about the horrifying ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico?
Last week's blog also pulled in some great, head-spinning comments from industry members at the front lines of the counterfeiting problem who've seen firsthand some of the malfeasance and deception that goes on. I urge you to check those comments out, and leave one of your own should the mood take you...
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