Dexter Barsigan has spent the past 13 years making a living with his bare hands and a pair of pliers, stripping scrapped laptops and air conditioners for metal he can sell to junk shops in the Philippines.

But since his hands began aching and his vision started to blur three years ago, there have been days he can only watch his wife and nephew do the job for him.

The 47-year-old father of three is a "mambabaklas", the Filipino word for informal dismantlers who scavenge electronic waste for the nickel, aluminum and copper inside.

"Dismantling helps us put food on the table. It provides the money to send my kids to school," Barsigan told AFP while sitting along a kilometre-long stretch of Onyx Street, home to hundreds of fellow "e-waste" dismantlers.

Their work frequently involves burning away rubber wire casings, releasing a toxic brew of chemicals including lead, mercury and cadmium into the air.

Both the Philippine government and the Basel Convention, a global waste management treaty signed by 191 countries, consider e-waste hazardous.

"It poses serious threats to human health and the environment," said Irvin Cadavona, a hazardous waste management officer with the environment department, citing health risks ranging from cancer and........

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