As part of Middleburg Academy's assembly program designed to bring a range of topics and issues before students and teachers, Dr. Ndunge Kiiti, an expert in sustainable development, communication and international health policy, recently gave a presentation on "Issues of E-Waste in Third World Countries."

Dr. Kiiti, who holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University, is a Professor at Houghton College (NY), where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Faith, Justice and Global Engagement.

Dr. Kiiti's November 8 talk at the Loudoun County Independent 9-12 school revealed startling e-waste statistics. Students learned that of the 3.41 million tons of e-waste generated in the United States in 2011 alone, only 24.9% was recycled. In fact, each year twenty to fifty metric tons of secondary electronics are discarded by U.S. residents, and then disposed of worldwide. Students were also made aware that China and India receive much of the flow of our used electronics.

The central issue is that cell phones, computers and television monitors contain numerous known toxins (among them mercury, lead, bromine, cholorine and cadmium).

"When we throw out over 100 million cell phones every year in the U.S., many recyclers are actually shipping the items overseas where they are plumbed -- without any safety oversight -- for their inner parts," says Kiiti. "Most often," she explained, "they are shipped following an illegal trade route to Asia, where poor people - sometimes children - burn and extract the desirable (and highly toxic) elements."

Assembly participants viewed a portion of a CBS "60 Minutes" segment which visited one town in China - designated a big "e-recycling center" but actually one of the most carcinogenic places on earth - where women are six times more likely to miscarry and seven out of ten children have too much lead in their bodies.

Students were asked to briefly research and share information about e-waste in several countries (India, Nigeria, Mexico, Ghana and Brazil), which served to raise their awareness about governance/lobbying issues and the lack of safety oversights.

Together with Dr. Kiiti, they discussed the consequences of our actions: injustices due to false labeling of "products" versus actual "waste;" negative environmental and public health impact; concerns of national security; and how our consumerism and the flow of our e-waste can play a role in perpetuating power struggles and conflict in some civil war torn regions.