Pictures: India's Poor Risk Health to Mine Electronic "E-Waste"

To get copper out of tangled wire, workers simply burn it and try to dodge the dangerous fumes. Circuit boards, meanwhile, are bathed in cyanide to release gold, with the poisonous residue dumped in drains and rivers.
"E-waste is a cocktail of toxic chemicals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants," says Priti Mahesh, chief program coordinator for Toxics Link, a Delhi-based environmental group. "Some of these are known to cause not just short-term health problems, but also to damage the brain, nervous system, and reproductive system in the long term.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140628-electronics-waste-india-pictures-recycling-environment-world/