“ Bags of circuit boards are delivered to former farmers who heat them one by one over a coal fire burner in a pan that’s like a shallow wok. When the lead solder melts sufficiently, the chips are plucked off by hand. It is a job usually done by women, some of them pregnant, most of them of child-bearing age, and of course, with many children running all around—everyone breathing in lead and other toxic fumes released from the heating of the circuit boards. We tested lead levels 2,400 times the World Health Organization’s drinking water standards. Due to lead contamination, all of Guiyu’s water must be trucked in from outside the area.