Business Ethics

Business Ethics CASE STUDY(20 Marks) San Francisco: Waste from computers, televisions and other devices used in the United States is polluting environment and exposing workers to toxic chemicals in region of India and China where discarded electronics are dismantled, a study released on Wednesday said. Researchers detected high levels of toxic metals in more than 70 samples collected in March from industrial waste, river sediment, soil and groundwater around the southern Chinese City of Guiyu and the suburbs of New Delhi, according to the report by Greenpeace International. Dust from dismantling workshops contained the highest level of contaminants. “The extent of the contamination is even worse than we had feared.

The levels analyzed are really scary and very concerning,” said Ted Smith, the founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition who chairs the computer Take Back Campaign, which promotes electronics recycling. Most of the electronics collected in the United States for recycling are supplied to China, India and other Asian countries where worker protection and environmental safety standards are weak, Smith said. The researchers chose to collect samples from the Mayapuri and Burari areas of New Delhi because the two regions are known to dismantle discarded American electronics to recover valuable metals such s gold, platinum and silver. The samples collected from those areas contained elevated levels of heavy metals including lead, tin, copper, cadmium and antimony.

Answer the following question. Q1. Explain the ethical issues in the above case. Q2. Explain the unethical issues involved in the above case.