Global: Dumping obsolete technology on the poor

US citizens will buy 30 million new digital televisions this year alone, sending their old lead-laden TVs to the dump, or more likely, overseas to China or India. Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition says it is “an astonishing number that will send millions of pounds of lead to landfills or overseas.” Non-digital TVs contain up to eight pounds of lead, which is a potent neurotoxin. While new digital flat screen TVs don’t have lead, they do contain mercury, another neurotoxin.