It is expected to reach 74.7 million tonnes by 2030, while global employment in the waste sector is projected to soar by some 70%, or another 45 million jobs, many of them in e-waste processing [4] .
592
如果未以无害环境的方式加以处理，电子废物中会有哪些危害健康的有毒物质？
What health-endangering toxic poisons are there in e-waste if it is not processed in an environmentally sound way?
593
儿童和非正规工人又是如何暴露于这些物质的？
How are children and informal workers exposed to them?
Informal e-waste workers, including children, may be exposed to over 1,000 harmful substances, including lead, cadmium, mercury, dioxins, nickel, brominated flame retardants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
595
此类物质会污染空气、灰尘、水和土壤并从受污染土地中挥发出来。
These substances can pollute the air, dust, water and soil as well as volatilize from contaminated ground.
Workers, their families and communities are exposed to these when reclaiming the trace amounts of valuable metals in e-waste through open burning, heating or acid leaching (using cyanide salt, nitric acid or mercury).
The burning of e-waste materials to extract metals also makes e-waste sites frequent sources of intense air pollution contaminated by toxic mixes of harmful particles, including heavy metals and industrial chemicals and compounds.
E-waste workers, their families and communities are exposed to these toxic chemicals in several different ways, including through ingesting contaminated food, water, soil and dust, breathing in toxic aerosol particles and gases, and through skin exposure.
Children and babies face additional risks from the body burdens of their mothers through breast milk and transplacental exposure and from direct contact with toxic chemicals from frequent hand-to-mouth behaviour.
Children as young as 5 years of age have been reported working at e-waste recycling sites and are known to frequently work alongside their parents and families in e-waste recycling activities and businesses.