Millions of people in India take apart old phones, computers, and appliances to recover valuable metals. In doing so, they breathe in poisons, absorb them through their skin, and ingest them. These chemicals damage their organs, disrupt their hormones, and harm their unborn children. Almost none of them get healthcare or compensation for the harm.

India has over five million waste workers, according to a George Institute policy brief from 2021. Many handle e-waste — old electronics filled with mercury, lead, cadmium, and other toxic metals. The WHO documented in 2024 that these workers develop respiratory disease, skin cancer, nerve damage, and birth defects.

The danger comes from multiple directions at once. When workers take apart devices by hand, toxic chemicals enter their bodies through breathing, skin contact, and swallowing. Chemical baths that dissolve metal from circuit boards release poisonous fumes. Burning wire insulation in the open air concentrates cancer-causing substances that workers breathe in. They face all of this simultaneously, often in poorly ventilated spaces.

Blood tests prove the damage. Researchers found that workers in e-waste areas had dangerous levels of heavy metals and long-lasting poisons in their bodies compared to control groups. Studies published in The Lancet Global Health found that e-waste exposure changes how genes work and alters thyroid hormones — the chemicals that control metabolism and development.

Children suffer the most. Lead and mercury harm brain development in the womb and in early childhood at very low exposure levels — far too low to cause immediate symptoms in adults. In many Indian recycling areas, families work together in the same space. Children grow up around these toxins with no escape.

The problem is growing fast. The EPA reports that e-waste stockpiling in India is accelerating. UN data cited in a 2024 Reuters report shows toxic e-waste is piling up worldwide faster than formal recycling systems can process it — pushing the overflow into informal operations where there is almost no oversight.

India passed an e-waste law in 2022 that requires electronics companies to pay for recycling. But informal workers — who do most of the actual work — are not protected by it. The Global Information Society Watch found that informal recyclers are left out of the safety rules entirely. A study of Rajbandh, one of India's biggest informal recycling sites, found workers exposed to uncontrolled chemical hazards.

International law says governments must protect people from harm caused by private companies. The Center for International Environmental Law argues this applies to e-waste recycling too. But in India, no law enforces this yet.

The evidence shows a massive public health problem happening outside any formal safety system. The workers most at risk — informal recyclers, many of them women and children — are the ones with the least access to doctors, pay, or legal protection. Solving this means including informal workers in the government's recycling system, not leaving them out of the rules.