Blood Phones, Coltan and Gorillas

The next time you're considering a new techno gadget purchase, you might want to research whether coltan is involved.

Coltan is short for "columbite-tantalite," a metallic substance that is used to make capacitors for cell phones, laptops, televisions and other devices. Approximately 80% of the world's coltan comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where civil wars have left a devastating wake of human rights violations and environmental destruction. Buying coltan funds the rebels and their atrocities.

Rebels who control coltan as well as gold, silver and diamonds, use children to work in the mines, and in 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor found that the Congo's enforcement of its own child labor laws was "inadequate." More than two million children have died in mining-related accidents in the Congo in the past ten years.

Buying coltan also supports rape, a common weapon of the rebels. Because of fighting among the rebels of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, four million people have been killed and more than 250,000 women and children have been raped.

Last but not least, the mining of coltan endangers the Eastern lowland gorillas, because it leads to deforestation, water pollution and hunting.

A possible solution is a certification program, so that consumers can avoid coltan that comes from the Congo. Also, the UK-based Gorilla Organization is campaigning for the environmentally repsonsible mining of coltan in the Congo. Another possibility is mining coltan from dead volcanoes in Greenland.

As with so many animal and environmental issues, the parts that we consumers can control are reducing our consumption and curbing human overpopulation. Instead of purchasing a new cell phone, make do with the one that you have. Or consider buying a used or refurbished cell phone. If you do replace a cell phone, be sure to recycle the old one.

Photo courtesy of The Gorilla Organization

Suggested Links:

• What is an Endangered Species?
• Should Zoos Keep Endangered Species?
• The Scandal of Coltan from the Guide to Geology
• Where Can I Recycle My Cell Phone? from the Guide to Cell Phones

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