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E waste and children health, WHO
Come and learn about children health and exposure to e-waste, celebrate with us International E-waste Day 2025! Primitive recycling techniques such as burning cables for retaining the inherent copper expose both adult and child workers as well as their families to a range of hazardous substances. E-waste-connected health risks may result from direct contact with harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from inhalation of toxic fumes, as well as from accumulation of chemicals in soil, water and food. In addition to its hazardous components, being processed, e-waste can give rise to a number of toxic by-products likely to affect human health. Furthermore, recycling activities such as dismantling of electrical equipment may potentially bear an increased risk of injury.
CONTENT
Introduction – (5 min).
PRESENTATIONS
E-waste and Children Health – Marie Noel Bruné, World Health Organization (WHO) - (30 min.) (English on 14 October)
RAEE y salud infantil - – Marie Noel Bruné, World Health Organization (WHO) - (30 min.) (Spanish on 16 October)
Questions and Answers – (25 min.)
PRESENTER
Marie-Noël Bruné works at the WHO Department of Public Health Environment and Social Determinants of Health (PHE), in Geneva, Switzerland. A biologist by training, with field experience on assisted reproduction, she joined WHO to work on children's environmental health and reproductive environmental health issues. She has a Masters in Science with Commendations and Honors in Reproduction and Fertility from the University of Aberdeen. She has co-authored the book and CD "Introduction to Gynecological Endoscopic Surgery", that obtained the National Award of the Medicine Academy in Uruguay in 2001. She worked as an embryologist at Montevideo's Sterility Clinic, trained on the in vitro fertilization laboratory of the Institut Dexeus in Barcelona and has postgraduate studies in public health and epidemiology. She is currently the focal point for children’s environmental health at WHO, working on publications and initiatives related to training and research in the area. One of the program’s main recent initiatives is on protecting the health of children and vulnerable populations from e-waste exposures.
TARGET GROUPS
E-waste Challenge MOOC participants, Basel Convention Focal Points, Basel Competent Authorities, Basel Convention Regional and Coordinating Centres, OEWG participants, Stockholm Convention focal points and points of contact, members of the POPRC, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), recyclers and their associations, government officials and regional/local authorities dealing with e-waste management, PACEII stakeholders and any other interested persons.