Report reveals flawed U.S. e-waste policies.

• Position: Electronic wastes - Brief article

A new report highlights the need for improved U.S. regulation of electronic waste. The report, released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in September, said a "substantial quantity" of discarded electronics is sent to the developing world where it is dismantled in conditions unsafe to workers and dangerous to the environment.

The international shipping of electronic waste, or "e-waste," is regulated by the 1989 Basel Convention, which requires signatories to notify developing nations of incoming hazardous waste shipments. The United States is the only industrialized country not to ratify the convention.

U.S. households discarded more than 300 million electronic devices in 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At least 80 percent of...