A scathing report in the New York Times lambastes a US policy which is purported to belie itself as a purely beneficient program that sends used computer equipment to poor regions around the globe. In compiling their research, the Basel Action Network focused primarily on Nigeria, which recieves recieves about 400,000 computers a month through a port in Lagos. Seventy-five percent of incoming computer shipments are broken or unusable, leaving the Nigerian government to incur the onerous task of junking the antiquated computers in landfills without regard for recycling regulations. A CRT computer monitor can contain as much as eight pounds of lead and other poisonous materials that easily seep into underground water tables which feed into sources for human drinking waters. The Basel Action Network takes the position that this case example is emulated wherever indigent governments request used computers from wealthy nations.

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Read about the $100 Laptop Project, which aims to make new hand-crank powered computers to third world governments.

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