TYT: Big Tech Accused Of Using Minerals Mined By Child Labor

[WhoIsNumberNone]

You may have felt guilty that your iPhone is made by wage slaves in China. Now you have a new reason to feel guilty! It turns out that the minerals used to make electronics are mined by children in the Democratic Republic of Congo in some of the worst conditions imaginable. Ana Kasparian, Kim Horcher (Nerd Alert), and Margaret Howell (The LipTV) hosts of The Young Turks discuss.

Will the knowledge that these minerals are mined by children make you think twice about buying electronics?Let us know in the comments below.

Read more here: http://mic.com/articles/133000/apple-microsoft-and-samsung-accused-of-using-minerals-mined-by-children-to-make-phones-amnesty

“When you think of your "toxic" addiction to social media and your cellphone, you might consider that for some children in the world, your phone might have literally been poisonous.

Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and other phone manufacturers were accused by Amnesty International of using rare minerals mined by child laborers in their smartphones. Amnesty's investigation found that in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), there are areas where children work in artisanal mines to feed the thriving market for cobalt, an ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries of modern smartphones. The DRC produces about 55% of the world's cobalt, the Global Mining Institute reports.

While many people may associate "artisanal" with craft beer snobs and woodworking classes, in the case of Congolese mining, it means digging by hand using rudimentary tools in sparsely regulated, impromptu mines.”