![]() The dust from the pulverized rock is known to cause breathing problems. Mining waste often pollutes rivers and drinking water. Scientists have recorded alarming radioactivity levels in some mining regions. "Southern Congo holds not only vast deposits of cobalt and copper but also uranium. "But what's less understood are the environmental health risks posed by the extensive mining," he reported. Frankel wrote late last month in The Washington Post. ![]() Miners know their work is dangerous, Todd C. Moreover, miners said unsupported mining tunnels frequently give way, and that accidents are common. "We all have problems with our lungs, and pain all over our bodies," the woman said, according to Amnesty. Some women complained about the physical nature of the work, with one describing hauling 110-pound sacks of cobalt ore. The health agency says skin contact is also a significant health concern "because dermal exposures to hard metal and cobalt salts can result in significant systemic uptake."Ĭobalt mining's dangerous impact on workers and the environment 05:54 Inhalation of cobalt particles can cause respiratory sensitization, asthma, decreased pulmonary function and shortness of breath, the CDC says. Health risks of chronic exposureĪccording to the CDC, "chronic exposure to cobalt-containing hard metal (dust or fume) can result in a serious lung disease called 'hard metal lung disease'" – a kind of pneumoconiosis, meaning a lung disease caused by inhaling dust particles. More than half of the world's supply of cobalt comes from the DRC, and 20 percent of that is mined by hand, according to Darton Commodities Ltd., a London-based research company that specializes in cobalt. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Cobalt-containing products include corrosion and heat-resistant alloys, hard metal (cobalt-tungsten-carbide alloy), magnets, grinding and cutting tools, pigments, paints, colored glass, surgical implants, catalysts, batteries, and cobalt-coated metal (from electroplating)," says the U.S. So, what exactly is cobalt, and what are the health risks for those who work in the DRC's cobalt mining industry? What's life like for kids mining cobalt for our gadgets?. ![]() From as young as 4 years old, children can pick cobalt out of a pile, and even those too young to work spend much of the day breathing in toxic fumes. There's such sensitivity around cobalt mining in the DRC that a CBS News team traveling there recently was stopped every few hundred feet while moving along dirt roads and seeing children digging for cobalt. The Amnesty report first revealed that cobalt mined by children was ending up in products from prominent tech companies including Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Samsung. ![]() Children still mining cobalt for gadget batteries in Congo 05:56Ī CBS News investigation of child labor in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo has revealed that tens of thousands of children are growing up without a childhood today – two years after a damning Amnesty report about human rights abuses in the cobalt trade was published. ![]()
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