Cathode ray tubes can leak between 2.5 and 8 pounds of lead per monitor into landfills and then into ground water. This can cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, blood system and kidneys in humans. Damage to a child's brain development has also been noted.
Cadmium found in Printed circuit boards and semiconductors accumulates in the human body and can cause symptoms of poisoning. By 2005, a total of more than 2 million pounds will exist in discarded computers.
Mercury found in Batteries and switches can cause chronic damage to the brain. By 2005, there wiil be 400,000 pounds of mercury across the US.
The average computer has a life span of less than 2 years. At the end of last year 24 million computers in the US became obsolete and only about 14% or 3.3 million of these will be recycled or donated. The rest will be dumped, incinerated, or shipped out as waste exports.
The "Electronic Product Recovery and Recycling Baseline Report" --published by the National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center states that by the year 2004, experts estimate that there will be over 315 million obsolete computers in the US.