npsimons's Journal: Rare earth metals

Just a quick thought before I have to go into work today: so China is possibly looking at cutting back their rare earth metal exports, but that doesn't seem to stop them putting them in children's toys and/or jewelry. So, why not this: don't chastise China for bad behavior; just buy up all the heavy metal toys as they are imported and melt them down! Heck, it even says in the article that the jewelry "easily sheds" cadmium.

I mean, lead was one thing, we're not in need of that (apparently we use something else for our pipes now). But cadmium? Last I checked, that was good for electronics, and we *always* need more of those.

Why?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

"But cadmium? Last I checked, that was good for electronics, and we *always* need more of those."

Last I checked, all the electronics companies were shutting down AMERICAN factories, in favor of Asian ones where labor is 1/10th the cost. Why would we need raw materials among such expensive workers?

Re:

[npsimons]

Last I checked, all the electronics companies were shutting down AMERICAN factories, in favor of Asian ones where labor is 1/10th the cost. Why would we need raw materials among such expensive workers?

I was mostly being tongue-in-cheek, but every time someone brings up "the new red threat" (China), a lot of people say "oh noes! teh evil chinese will cuts off our access to their rare earth metals, without which I can't have a 52in plasma TV!". Of course, this neatly ignores the point you made, which is that

Re:

[npsimons]

And yes, now that I've read up on it some more, I realize that cadmium is being phased out of use for just about anything besides batteries, and no, it's not all that rare, either.