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Challenging the Chip:
  Labor rights and environmental justice in the
           global electronics industry

 Organizing and Advocacy for Health and Environmental Justice
                   in the High-Tech Industry

Presented at Global Production, Economic Development, and labor
         standards in the Information Technology Industry
                       Guangzhou, China
                              December, 2011

                               Ted Smith, Founder,
                         Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition;
                      Electronics TakeBack Coalition; and
              International Campaign for Responsible Technology
                                   www.icrt.co
Valley of Heart’s Delight
Transition from Valley of Hearts
    Delight to Silicon Valley
• In the 1970s, farming and the canning and
  food packaging industries started to move
  away
• A new industry started to grow up based
  on new technologies – it became known
  as the high tech electronics industry and
  produced semiconductors, printed circuit
  boards, disk drives and computers
Unions
   Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers
                   by David Bacon
     http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm

• From the beginning, high tech workers had to face an
  industry-wide anti-union policy. Robert Noyce, who
  participated in the invention of the transistor, and later
  became a co-founder of Intel Corp., declared that
  "remaining non-union is an essential for survival for
  most of our companies. If we had the work rules that
  unionized companies have, we'd all go out of
  business. This is a very high priority for
  management here. We have to retain flexibility in
  operating our companies. The great hope for our nation
  is to avoid those deep, deep divisions between workers
  and management which can paralyze action."
Unions
   Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers
                   by David Bacon
     http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm
The First Effort - Organizing Semiconductor Workers
• The historic base for organizing activity among the high
  tech workforce for many years were the workers in the
  semiconductor plants. Starting in the early 1970s,
  workers began to form organizing committees affiliated
  to the UE in plants belonging to National Semiconductor,
  Siltec, Fairchild, Siliconix, Semimetals, and others. Most
  of these were semiconductor manufacturing plants, or
  factories which supplied raw materials to those plants.
• By the early 1980's, the UE Electronics Organizing
  Committee had grown to involve a signed-up core
  membership of over 500 workers, who were participants
  in a number of union campaigns.
Unions
  Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers
                  by David Bacon
    http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm

• Eventually the semiconductor manufacturers,
  especially National Semiconductor, fired many of
  the leading union activists, and the committee
  gradually dispersed as its members sought work
  where they could find it. The main strategic
  question which the committee sought to answer
  remains unresolved.
History of organizing for better conditions



• In the mid 70's, a small group of people started
  meeting to discuss concerns over the chemical-
  handling aspects of the semiconductor industry
  and what might be done to raise these issues
  publicly. The group was called ECOSH,
  Electronics Committee for Occupational Safety
  and Health. ECOSH members included
  electronics workers, occupational nurses,
  attorneys, industrial hygienists, engineering and
  medical students, labor, environmental and
  religious leaders.
History of organizing for better conditions



• Organized an effort to ban the use of TCE

• Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and
  Health (SCCOSH) was formally organized in
  1978. ECOSH continued as a SCCOSH project
  into the early 1980s, gaining recognition for a
  vigorous and largely successful campaign to ban
  TCE as well as energetic support and advocacy
  for many workers trying to win better conditions
  for themselves and co-workers.
History of organizing for better conditions



• Another early SCCOSH project was
  Injured Workers United, a support group
  for workers already affected by chemical
  exposures, trying to secure fair
  compensation, decent medical care and
  retraining. The Silicon Valley Toxics
  Coalition (SVTC) also started out as an
  early project of SCCOSH in 1982.
CAL OSHA report in 1981
Toxic Trouble in Silicon Valley
           Newsweek 1984
New York Times –
  November 10, 1984
AMRC Handbook - 1985
The Reality of
            High Tech Impact

• Semiconductor workers experience illness
  rates 3 times greater than manufacturing
  workers in other industries
• In 3 epidemiological studies, women who
  worked in fabrication rooms were found to
  have rates of miscarriage of 40% or more
  above non-manufacturing workers
• Silicon Valley has more EPA Superfund sites
  than any other area in the USA
Toxic Components in
        electronic products
• Solvents, acids, photoresists, gases, etc used to
  make chips, disk drives, etc
• Lead and cadmium in circuit boards
• Lead in CRT monitors
• Brominated flame retardants on printed circuit
  boards, cables and plastic casing
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cables
• Mercury switches, flat screens
Clean rooms and
              miscarriages
   “ new concerns … may prove a potential black eye
   for a high technology industry that … sought to
   portray itself as clean and with little impact on the
   environment.

Women exposed to certain chemicals … in the nation’s
  semiconductor factories face a significantly higher
  risk of miscarriage, a broad industry-financed
  study has found. The study is the 3rd in 4 years to
  find that … glycol ethers have toxic effects. “




                  Oct 12 and Dec. 4, 1992
Chip plants not safe in Scotland
               Wall Street Journal
                 October 5, 1998

• SEMICONDUCTOR PLANTS AREN'T SAFE AND
  CLEAN By BILL RICHARDS
  Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

•    GREENOCK, Scotland -- At the Inverclyde Advice
    and Employment Rights Center here, two dozen
    women crowd around a table. In angry Scottish
    burrs, they recite a litany of medical problems:
    cancers, birth defects, multiple miscarriages.
IBM Corporate Mortality File
         http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626450



• IBM maintained records of 30,000 workers that
  identified cause of death over 30 years
• Records were analyzed by Dr. Richard Clapp,
  epidemiologist at Boston Univ.
• Breast cancer deaths in women at IBM were
  2.42 times the expected number
• Similar findings for brain cancer, kidney cancer,
  non-Hodgikins lymphoma
IBM settles chemical suit
             January 23, 2001 Case involved
              microchip site workers' son
•   By Craig Wolf
    Poughkeepsie Journal
    A lawsuit described as the first to test claims that chemicals in a microchip plant could
    be harmful to people has been settled, the parties said Monday. IBM Corp. and
    attorneys for Zachary Ruffing, a 15-year-old whose parents both had worked in the
    1980s at IBM's East Fishkill plant, confirmed that an agreement had been reached.
•   Settlements typically involve payment by the defendant. Neither side would disclose
    what IBM or two chemical companies involved in the suit would pay.
•   IBM said ''human factors'' played a role in the decision. It still denies guilt.
•   ''I think it's an enormously important case, partly because of the really serious
    damage suffered by Zach Ruffing and his family, and partly because this is the first
    major test case of its kind involved the high-tech industry,'' said Ted Smith, executive
    director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition in San Jose, Calif.
Clean rooms and dirty secrets

Major malformations typically occur in 1-2% of US
 live births; 5-10% are CNS malformations.
 Thus, in 1000 live births 1-2 CNS malformations
 and under .5 hydrocephaly cases expected.

From 1980-89 <1000 children were born to clean
  room workers at 2 IBM sites with high
  miscarriage rates. At least three were born with
  hydrocephaly. Other CNS defects found in the
  group include spina bifida and microcephaly
Clouds in Silicon Valley
                New York Times
               September 8, 2003
                 By Bob Herbert


“The pristine environment is for the
sake of the products, which can be
ruined by even a speck of dust. At the
same time, the hazardous chemicals
used in the process are capable of
doing devastating physical damage to
the workers.”
http://www.computertakeback.com/news_and_resources/clouds_sv.cfm
Practice precaution: close the gap
between environmental and workplace
PELS

68 chemicals known to the State of California to
cause cancer or reproductive harm are totally
unregulated by Cal-OSHA or regulated only for non-
cancer effects

There is a huge disparity between workplace and
environmental protections against carcinogens and
developmental toxicants everywhere.
Workplace PELS (if any) for carcinogens and
 developmental toxics are much weaker than
          environmental standards
•If the air you breathe at work contains 1 ppm
benzene, you are getting over 500 times the
dosage set by EPA to protect the most
vulnerable level of benzene with every breath
you take (industrial health standards are not
set to prevent birth defects in workers kids)

•If you breathe1 ppm of benzene at work, it
takes only 166 hours to get a complete lifetime
dose (using the federal public health exposure
limit. )
Without health-protective PELS
as well, better hazard
communication, green
chemistry campaigns, and the
threat of after-the-fact liability
are just not enough to prevent
toxic harm to workers and their
offspring in the first place.
Env. STDD              Yield in
                     Best OCC STDD   Best Env. STDD
  Toxic Agent                                          converted to 8      improved worker
                        8 hr. TWA      NSRL or MCL
                                                          hr. TWA             protection




                       1 part per
     Benzene                            7 ug/day      1 part per billion       1,000:1
                         million




       TCE              25 ppm         80 ug/day           7 ppb               3,571:1




      Perc              25 ppm         14 ug/day           .3 ppb              8,333:1




Methylene Chloride      25 ppm         0.005 mg/L          1 ppb              25,000:1
ALLIANCE @ IBM
                   DEMANDS
* Health surveillance of all IBM workers

* reduce exposures to toxic substances NOW as part of transition
    to non-toxic substances in all processes

* States compile and publish cancer maps of areas around
   computer manufacturing plants where employees are likely to
   reside.

* fund to alleviate medical burden on affected IBM employees and
    their families.
Early OSH publications
Suzanne Rubio
Died of breast cancer age 39
  IBM semiconductor worker.
 Exposed to organic solvents,
   uncured epoxy resins, and
uncured photoresists containing
 glycol ethers, xylene, n-butyl
            acetate
Lucy Kneebone
  Died of stomach cancer age 35

IBM assembly worker. chronic
 exposure to organic solvents,
    uncured epoxy resins
Joanne Gomez
Died of breast cancer age 33
IBM assembly worker Exposed to
organic solvents, uncured epoxy
             resins
From Silicon Glen to Silicon Valley:
   Helen Clark & Jim McCourt
The wake up call !!
    The Fairchild Case --
Groundwater pollution in Silicon
    Valley poisons families
Labor unions were central to SVTC
Right-to-Know Timeline

1976 - USA Worker Right-to-Know (RTK)
  Law Enacted
  – Guarantees worker access to workplace
    chemical information
1983 - Santa Clara County adopts
  Hazardous Materials Model Ordinance
  & Local RTK Law
  – Companies must report hazardous material
    storage & plans to protect public health 1 of 4
Right-to-Know Timeline

1984 - CA adopts Leaking Underground
  storage Tank Law
  – Monitor industrial chemical leaks & clean-up
1986 - USA Community RTK Act
  (CERCLA) Established Toxics Release
  Inventory
  – Industries must report annual chemical
    releases & pollution prevention targets   2 of 4
TRI Releases for 2007
           for Selected Electronics Companies
                                             Total On-site Disposal or    Total Off-site Disposal       Total On- and Off-site Disposal
Facility            City             State   Other Releases               or Other Releases             or Other Releases




IBM CORP            HOPEWELL JUNCTION NY                        1074661                    22249.4                              1096911

SILTRONIC CORP.     PORTLAND         OR                          635958                         3.3                              635961
SANYO SOLAR (USA)
LLC                 CARSON           CA                            8069                     234714                               242783

IBM CORP            ESSEX JUNCTION   VT                          185718                 2645.1034                                188363
SONY ELECTRONICS
INC.                DOTHAN           AL                           74820                   16891.52                                91711
MICRON TECHNOLOGY
INC                 BOISE            ID                           88375                      864.3                                89239
PHILIPS LUMILEDS
LIGHTING CO         SAN JOSE         CA                           73231                             0                             73231
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
INC                 DALLAS           TX                           23652                   44124.89                                67776
DU PONT ELECTRONICS
MICROCIRCU ITS
INDUSTRIES LTD.     MANATI           PR                            1428                 34679.232                                 36107

INTEL CORP          RIO RANCHO       NM                           18193                     3589.9                                21783
The footprint of high-tech
      development
Moore’s Law
Activists Chide Dell Computer
           Recycling
Apple Campaign
Inside an iPhone
Inside your iPhone
Our movement expands as
   Industry moves out of S.V.

Global High-Tech Production is
    Undergoing the Largest
  Industrial Expansion in the
      History of the World
We are undergoing the “Largest
 industrial transition in history”
• 127 new fabs
  – Total exceeds $115 billion
  – $1- 3 billion each
  – 300 mm fabs may double the cost

• 200 mm to 300 mm fabs: $14 billion
  – “Largest industrial transition in history”


                      Source: SEMI
High Tech manufacturing is global

      Electronics factory in China
The scale is staggering
Over 500,00 workers at Foxconn in China
Electronics Supply Chain
       Research done by Sarah Boyd
Taiwan: Workers Link Cancer to RCA Plant
                   by Matthew Yi, San Francisco Chronicle
                              May 24th, 2002

While many laud the globalization of technology as a positive force that
  spreads the wealth and helps industry grow, a group of Taiwanese
  workers came to Silicon Valley Thursday to tell a different story.
Their tale has to do with a former RCA facility in Taiwan's northern
  county of Taoyuan. More than 1,000 former employees of that
  facility are suffering from cancer and more than 200 have died,
  according to the visiting workers, who used to make TVs and
  semiconductors.
Most of those afflicted believe the company's plants polluted
  groundwater with toxic chemicals, leading to the outbreak of illness,
  according to the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational
  Injuries and the Self-Help Association of Former RCA Employees.
  Both are based in Taipei and were represented at a news
  conference held in San Jose Thursday, seeking publicity for the
  workers' claims.
                    http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2649
RCA Workers in Taiwan
E-Waste Dumped in Guiyu, China
Women sorting wires to burn in China
Burning E-Waste in Guiyu, China
Woman breaking a CRT monitor in China
A Chinese child sits amongst a pile of wires and e-waste. Children can often be found dismantling e-
waste containing many hazardous chemicals known to be potentially very damaging to children's
health.
E-Waste problems continue

• Wired for gold - (China Daily)
•   Updated: 2011-11-16 07:59
•   By Cheng Anqi and Erik Nilsson




•   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/life/2011-11/16/content_14104157.htm
The Digital Dump
A new report on e-waste dumping in Africa
      by the Basel Action Network
            October 24, 2005
Global e-waste dumping
E-Waste and Clean Production
Conference in Bejing – April 2004
Eco-Waste activists in Manila
Waste Not Asia
in Kerala, 2007
Farmers and fishermen protest
 high-tech pollution in Taiwan
Recent studies from Taiwan

• Increased standardized incidence ratio
  of breast cancer in female electronics
  workers

• Tzu-I Sung1, Pau-Chung Chen1,2, Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn
  Lee3, Yi-Ping Lin2,4,
• Gong-Yih Hsieh1 and Jung-Der Wang*1,2,5
Recent studies from Taiwan

Sung TI, Wang JD, Chen PC. Increased risks of infant
mortality and of deaths due to congenital malformation
in the offspring of male electronics workers. Birth
Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol 2008.

Chang YM, Tai CF, Yang SC, et al. Cancer incidence
among workers potentially exposed to chlorinated
solvents in an electronics factory. J Occup Health
2005;47:171-80.
Summary of Occupational
      Illness in Korean electronics
                (compiled by Dr. Kong of SHARPS)
                                          Samsung Electronics                     Total

                          Semiconductor      LCD     Mobile     etc.   Subtotal
                                                     phone



No.of Victims     Total        79             16       3         9       107      149




                 Cancer        63             10       2         6       81       114
                  Total        27              7       2         5       41        59

No.of Deaths
                 Cancer        23              6       1         5       35        53
Environmental Challenges and
Transparency in China
    For more info
    www.ipe.org.cn

        Ma Jun   02/11/2011
与31家信息通信产业的互动
Interaction with 31 ICT Brands
KEY FINDINGS 5: BRANDS TURNED PROACTIVE
                             Checks on                              Use of Public I        Push for Suppliers to       Further Extension of
                                               Supplier        Information to Enhance             Make                   Environmental
                                               Violation            Supply Chain            Corrective Action          Management into the
                               Checked
                  Replied to                    Cases               Management            & Disclose Information           Supply Chain
                                 the
Company Name         NGO                                                                                               Directly
                             Purpose of                     Considered     Decided to    Corrective      Regular                   Pushing Tier
                    Letter
                              the Study Performed Performed Establishing    Establish     Action      Disclosure of
                                                                                                                      Extended
                                                                                                                                  1 Suppliers to
                                          Initial  In-depth                                                            to Main
                                                              a Search      a Search         &         Discharge                  Manage Tier
                                          Checks    Checks                                                            Materials
                                                            Mechanism      Mechanism    Explanation       Data                          2
                                                                                                                      Suppliers
    Siemens          √          √          √               √      √            √            √              X             X              X
   Vodafone          √          √          √               √      √            √            √              X             X              √
      Philips        √          √          √               √      √            √            √              X             √              X
      Nokia          √          √          √               √      √            √            √              X             X              X
 Alcatel-Lucent      √          √          √               √      √            √            √              X             X              X
        BT           √          √          √               √      √            √            X              X             X              √
        HP           √          √          √               √      √            X            √              X             X              X
    Samsung          √          √          √               √      √            X            √              X             X              X
      Sanyo          √          √          √               √      √            X            √              X             X              X
       Sony          √          √          √               √      √            √            X              X             X              X
     Toshiba         √          √          √               √      √            X            X              X             X              X
   Panasonic         √          √          √               v      √            X            X              X             X              X
      Sharp          √          √          √               X      √            X            X              X             X              X
     Lenovo          √          √          √               X      √            X            X              X             X              X
       Intel         √          √          √               X      √            X            X              X             X              X
  Seiko Epson        √          X          √               √      √            X            X              X             X              X
   Motorola          √          √          √               √      √            X            X              X             X              X
     Hitachi         √          √          √               √      X            X            X              X             X              X
      Canon          √          X          √               √      X            X            X              X             X              X
       Cisco         √          X          √               √      X            X            X              X             X              X
        Dell         √          √          √               √      X            X            X              X             X              X
      Apple          √          √          √               √      √            X            X              X             X              X
      Haier          √          √          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
        TCL          √          √          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
    Foxconn          √          √          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
     SingTel         √          √          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
       BYD           √          √          √               X      √            X            X              X             X              X
       IBM           √          X          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
        LG           √          X          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
    Ericsson         √          X          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
BlackBerry- Rim      √          X          √               X      X            X            X              X             X              X
International Campaign for
    Responsible Technology
             (ICRT)


Global Symposium on Strategies for a
    Sustainable High-Tech Industry
        November 14-17, 2002
            San Jose, CA

  http://www.svtc.org/icrt/index.html
Activists gather at First Symposium
       on Global Strategies for a
Sustainable High-Tech Industry   - 2002
International Campaign for
       Responsible Technology
                (ICRT)
              Mission Statement,
           adopted November 16, 2002

• We are an international solidarity network that
  promotes corporate and government
  accountability in the global electronics industry.
  We are united by our concern for the lifecycle
  impacts of this industry on health, the
  environment and workers' rights.
Soesterberg Principles


Electronic Sustainability Commitment
  Each new generation of technical
  improvements in electronic products
  should include parallel and proportional
  improvements in environmental, health
  and safety as well as social justice
  attributes.
                  Adopted by the Trans-Atlantic Network for
                           Clean Production, May 16, 1999
Forward to
               Challenging the Chip

• “We need a lot more “people’s histories” like those in this
  book. The stories of brave and creative women and men
  who fight back when their lives and their children’s lives
  are threatened. These are the stories of people
  challenging the corporate elite and speaking truth to
  power – whether the power be the corporations or the
  governments that allow these practices to continue.
  Such stories teach us that when people come together
  across traditional boundaries – geographic, political,
  racial, etcetera – they can actually change the world.”
   – Jim Hightower, former state elected official in Texas
ICRT delegation visits
National Semiconductor
Book tour at Beijing University
Consumer Education:
          The Story of Stuff & The Story of Electronics
•   What is the Story of Stuff?
    From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects
    communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of
    Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production
    and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a
    huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a
    more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it
    just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

The Story of Electronics
   This video explores the high-tech revolution's collateral damage—25 million tons of e-
   waste and counting, poisoned workers and a public left holding the bill. Host Annie
   Leonard takes viewers from the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the
   horrific backyard recycling shops in China where many end up. The film concludes
   with a call for a green 'race to the top' where designers compete to make long-lasting,
   toxic-free products that are fully and easily recyclable.

http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/
UN expert meeting charts the way forward on
    hazardous chemicals in electronic products

 Historic meeting addresses entire lifecycle of electronics

For the first time, more than 100 experts from
  around the world gathered in Vienna, Austria to
  make recommendations for a UN process on
  reducing and eliminating hazardous chemicals in
  the design, manufacturing, and end of life stages
  of electronic products. Concerns over toxic
  exposures during manufacturing, use, and
  recycling of electronic products provoked
  governments, the private sector, and public
  interest NGOs from around the world to call for
  the meeting at a global conference in 2009.
Delegates to Vienna SAICM
  Meeting – March 2011
Key Recommendations from
        SAICM in Vienna
Delegates developed key recommendations:
• eliminating chemical hazards during design;
• phasing-out hazardous substances;
• improving information transparency and flow;
• ensuring equal protection of workers,
  communities, and consumers;
• preventing export of hazardous electronic
  wastes from developed to developing countries;
• and controlling export and import of near-end-
  of-life equipment.
Strategic Importance

Recognizing that many challenges need to
 be resolved through improved design of
 new products, recommendations were
 made on eliminating chemicals of concern,
 full ingredient disclosure, identifying and
 implementing substitution strategies,
 green procurement and extended
 producer responsibility.
Priority – Reduce Exposure to
     Hazardous Substances
The producers and manufacturers should prioritize
  reduction of exposure to chemicals, primarily by
  elimination or substitution of the most hazardous
  substances and production processes, especially those
  processes involving worker and community exposure to
  substances of concern. In the present context,
  substances of concern include those that are persistent,
  bioaccumulative and toxic and/or those that are
  carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive or developmental
  toxins, neurotoxins, neurodevelopmental toxins,
  respiratory toxins, immuno toxins, organ system toxins,
  and/or endocrine disrupting compounds. ;
Early Warning Systems

• Producers and manufacturers should cooperate with
  government, non-governmental organizations, trade
  unions, health care providers, and others to provide
  ongoing training to workers, community representatives
  and first responders to provide early warning systems
  about the inherent hazards of the materials being used,
  detailed information about best practices for protection
  from and reduction of exposure to those hazards, how to
  recognize early signs of adverse health impacts, and
  prevention of exposure to all hazards
Health Surveillance

•   Producers and manufacturers, with oversight by the government and the full
    participation of worker and community representatives should ensure (and
    report the results to appropriate governmental authorities of):
     – comprehensive, occupationally relevant health surveillance for all of its
        workers;
     – comprehensive ongoing industrial hygiene and environmental
        monitoring to measure the release and exposure to all hazardous
        materials used in manufacturing and production;
     – access to these data (and adequate funding) to ensure comprehensive
        and independent epidemiological assessments of worker health;
     – Action plans to preserve and protect worker health based on these data.
     – In situations where pollution from electronics production facilities has
        been found in surrounding communities, the manufacturers and
        producers should cooperate with health researchers and investigators to
        assess and control adverse health impacts, especially with respect to
        vulnerable populations.
Need for Fair Compensation
Governments are encouraged to develop and implement
  effective liability and compensation legislation for the victims
  of toxic exposures in the workplace and the community.
  Given that the electronics industry is characterized by multiple
  chemical exposures to vulnerable workers to chemicals of
  concern, many of which are in addition inadequately tested
  and regulated, and the frequent changes in process
  chemicals, it is particularly important to develop compensation
  systems funded by the employers that are designed to
  address these inherent challenges to fair compensation by
  developing mechanisms that assure that workers harmed by
  such exposure qualify for adequate and timely compensation,
  as well as treatment and rehabilitation.
What about EICC?

Key critique by Good Electronics:

  – EICC code is not sufficiently aligned with international
    labour standards/ILO conventions (This point was
    supported by Verité)
  – Very problematic that right to collective bargaining is not
    included. (This point was supported by Verité)
  – Code lacks specific details and enforcement
  – Language of the EICC code is – in places – vague and
    ambiguous
  – As a result, code lacks credibility and effectiveness
Key Points from the ANROEV Electronics Workshop
                  Jaipur India Nov 17,2001


• Broadening our electronics network
• Improving communications (internal and
  external)
• Mapping (supply chain and health)
• Continued research to link toxic exposure to
  health in electronics
• Planning for ICRT’s 10th anniversary in 2012
Ted Smith Biography
•   founder and former Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
•   co-founder and Chair of the steering committee of the Electronics TakeBack
    Coalition, (which is working to promote life-cycle producer responsibility
    within the high-tech electronics industry.)

•   co-founder and Coordinator of the International Campaign for Responsible
    Technology (ICRT), (an international network committed to working for the
    development of sustainable, non-polluting technologies.)

•   widely published author and respected speaker, and is co-editor of
    “Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global
    Electronics Industry” published by Temple University Press, 2006

•   a graduate of Wesleyan University and Stanford Law School and was a
    VISTA Volunteer in Washington, DC from 1967 - 1969.
For Further Information:

                        Ted Smith –
   International Campaign for Responsible Technology &
               Electronics TakeBack Coalition


tsmith@igc.org; +408-242-6707
www.icrt.co; www.electronicstakeback.com/home/

http://www.archive.org/details/pioneeractivistsil00smitrich

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt2b69r7hf;style=oac4;view=dsc

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Ted ppt presentation for global production workshop in guangzhou draft final dec 2011

  • 1. Challenging the Chip: Labor rights and environmental justice in the global electronics industry Organizing and Advocacy for Health and Environmental Justice in the High-Tech Industry Presented at Global Production, Economic Development, and labor standards in the Information Technology Industry Guangzhou, China December, 2011 Ted Smith, Founder, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition; Electronics TakeBack Coalition; and International Campaign for Responsible Technology www.icrt.co
  • 3. Transition from Valley of Hearts Delight to Silicon Valley • In the 1970s, farming and the canning and food packaging industries started to move away • A new industry started to grow up based on new technologies – it became known as the high tech electronics industry and produced semiconductors, printed circuit boards, disk drives and computers
  • 4. Unions Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers by David Bacon http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm • From the beginning, high tech workers had to face an industry-wide anti-union policy. Robert Noyce, who participated in the invention of the transistor, and later became a co-founder of Intel Corp., declared that "remaining non-union is an essential for survival for most of our companies. If we had the work rules that unionized companies have, we'd all go out of business. This is a very high priority for management here. We have to retain flexibility in operating our companies. The great hope for our nation is to avoid those deep, deep divisions between workers and management which can paralyze action."
  • 5. Unions Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers by David Bacon http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm The First Effort - Organizing Semiconductor Workers • The historic base for organizing activity among the high tech workforce for many years were the workers in the semiconductor plants. Starting in the early 1970s, workers began to form organizing committees affiliated to the UE in plants belonging to National Semiconductor, Siltec, Fairchild, Siliconix, Semimetals, and others. Most of these were semiconductor manufacturing plants, or factories which supplied raw materials to those plants. • By the early 1980's, the UE Electronics Organizing Committee had grown to involve a signed-up core membership of over 500 workers, who were participants in a number of union campaigns.
  • 6. Unions Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers by David Bacon http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm • Eventually the semiconductor manufacturers, especially National Semiconductor, fired many of the leading union activists, and the committee gradually dispersed as its members sought work where they could find it. The main strategic question which the committee sought to answer remains unresolved.
  • 7. History of organizing for better conditions • In the mid 70's, a small group of people started meeting to discuss concerns over the chemical- handling aspects of the semiconductor industry and what might be done to raise these issues publicly. The group was called ECOSH, Electronics Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. ECOSH members included electronics workers, occupational nurses, attorneys, industrial hygienists, engineering and medical students, labor, environmental and religious leaders.
  • 8. History of organizing for better conditions • Organized an effort to ban the use of TCE • Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health (SCCOSH) was formally organized in 1978. ECOSH continued as a SCCOSH project into the early 1980s, gaining recognition for a vigorous and largely successful campaign to ban TCE as well as energetic support and advocacy for many workers trying to win better conditions for themselves and co-workers.
  • 9. History of organizing for better conditions • Another early SCCOSH project was Injured Workers United, a support group for workers already affected by chemical exposures, trying to secure fair compensation, decent medical care and retraining. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) also started out as an early project of SCCOSH in 1982.
  • 10. CAL OSHA report in 1981
  • 11. Toxic Trouble in Silicon Valley Newsweek 1984
  • 12. New York Times – November 10, 1984
  • 14. The Reality of High Tech Impact • Semiconductor workers experience illness rates 3 times greater than manufacturing workers in other industries • In 3 epidemiological studies, women who worked in fabrication rooms were found to have rates of miscarriage of 40% or more above non-manufacturing workers • Silicon Valley has more EPA Superfund sites than any other area in the USA
  • 15. Toxic Components in electronic products • Solvents, acids, photoresists, gases, etc used to make chips, disk drives, etc • Lead and cadmium in circuit boards • Lead in CRT monitors • Brominated flame retardants on printed circuit boards, cables and plastic casing • Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cables • Mercury switches, flat screens
  • 16. Clean rooms and miscarriages “ new concerns … may prove a potential black eye for a high technology industry that … sought to portray itself as clean and with little impact on the environment. Women exposed to certain chemicals … in the nation’s semiconductor factories face a significantly higher risk of miscarriage, a broad industry-financed study has found. The study is the 3rd in 4 years to find that … glycol ethers have toxic effects. “ Oct 12 and Dec. 4, 1992
  • 17. Chip plants not safe in Scotland Wall Street Journal October 5, 1998 • SEMICONDUCTOR PLANTS AREN'T SAFE AND CLEAN By BILL RICHARDS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL • GREENOCK, Scotland -- At the Inverclyde Advice and Employment Rights Center here, two dozen women crowd around a table. In angry Scottish burrs, they recite a litany of medical problems: cancers, birth defects, multiple miscarriages.
  • 18. IBM Corporate Mortality File http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626450 • IBM maintained records of 30,000 workers that identified cause of death over 30 years • Records were analyzed by Dr. Richard Clapp, epidemiologist at Boston Univ. • Breast cancer deaths in women at IBM were 2.42 times the expected number • Similar findings for brain cancer, kidney cancer, non-Hodgikins lymphoma
  • 19. IBM settles chemical suit January 23, 2001 Case involved microchip site workers' son • By Craig Wolf Poughkeepsie Journal A lawsuit described as the first to test claims that chemicals in a microchip plant could be harmful to people has been settled, the parties said Monday. IBM Corp. and attorneys for Zachary Ruffing, a 15-year-old whose parents both had worked in the 1980s at IBM's East Fishkill plant, confirmed that an agreement had been reached. • Settlements typically involve payment by the defendant. Neither side would disclose what IBM or two chemical companies involved in the suit would pay. • IBM said ''human factors'' played a role in the decision. It still denies guilt. • ''I think it's an enormously important case, partly because of the really serious damage suffered by Zach Ruffing and his family, and partly because this is the first major test case of its kind involved the high-tech industry,'' said Ted Smith, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition in San Jose, Calif.
  • 20. Clean rooms and dirty secrets Major malformations typically occur in 1-2% of US live births; 5-10% are CNS malformations. Thus, in 1000 live births 1-2 CNS malformations and under .5 hydrocephaly cases expected. From 1980-89 <1000 children were born to clean room workers at 2 IBM sites with high miscarriage rates. At least three were born with hydrocephaly. Other CNS defects found in the group include spina bifida and microcephaly
  • 21. Clouds in Silicon Valley New York Times September 8, 2003 By Bob Herbert “The pristine environment is for the sake of the products, which can be ruined by even a speck of dust. At the same time, the hazardous chemicals used in the process are capable of doing devastating physical damage to the workers.” http://www.computertakeback.com/news_and_resources/clouds_sv.cfm
  • 22. Practice precaution: close the gap between environmental and workplace PELS 68 chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive harm are totally unregulated by Cal-OSHA or regulated only for non- cancer effects There is a huge disparity between workplace and environmental protections against carcinogens and developmental toxicants everywhere.
  • 23. Workplace PELS (if any) for carcinogens and developmental toxics are much weaker than environmental standards •If the air you breathe at work contains 1 ppm benzene, you are getting over 500 times the dosage set by EPA to protect the most vulnerable level of benzene with every breath you take (industrial health standards are not set to prevent birth defects in workers kids) •If you breathe1 ppm of benzene at work, it takes only 166 hours to get a complete lifetime dose (using the federal public health exposure limit. )
  • 24. Without health-protective PELS as well, better hazard communication, green chemistry campaigns, and the threat of after-the-fact liability are just not enough to prevent toxic harm to workers and their offspring in the first place.
  • 25. Env. STDD Yield in Best OCC STDD Best Env. STDD Toxic Agent converted to 8 improved worker 8 hr. TWA NSRL or MCL hr. TWA protection 1 part per Benzene 7 ug/day 1 part per billion 1,000:1 million TCE 25 ppm 80 ug/day 7 ppb 3,571:1 Perc 25 ppm 14 ug/day .3 ppb 8,333:1 Methylene Chloride 25 ppm 0.005 mg/L 1 ppb 25,000:1
  • 26. ALLIANCE @ IBM DEMANDS * Health surveillance of all IBM workers * reduce exposures to toxic substances NOW as part of transition to non-toxic substances in all processes * States compile and publish cancer maps of areas around computer manufacturing plants where employees are likely to reside. * fund to alleviate medical burden on affected IBM employees and their families.
  • 28. Suzanne Rubio Died of breast cancer age 39 IBM semiconductor worker. Exposed to organic solvents, uncured epoxy resins, and uncured photoresists containing glycol ethers, xylene, n-butyl acetate
  • 29. Lucy Kneebone Died of stomach cancer age 35 IBM assembly worker. chronic exposure to organic solvents, uncured epoxy resins
  • 30. Joanne Gomez Died of breast cancer age 33 IBM assembly worker Exposed to organic solvents, uncured epoxy resins
  • 31. From Silicon Glen to Silicon Valley: Helen Clark & Jim McCourt
  • 32. The wake up call !! The Fairchild Case -- Groundwater pollution in Silicon Valley poisons families
  • 33.
  • 34. Labor unions were central to SVTC
  • 35. Right-to-Know Timeline 1976 - USA Worker Right-to-Know (RTK) Law Enacted – Guarantees worker access to workplace chemical information 1983 - Santa Clara County adopts Hazardous Materials Model Ordinance & Local RTK Law – Companies must report hazardous material storage & plans to protect public health 1 of 4
  • 36. Right-to-Know Timeline 1984 - CA adopts Leaking Underground storage Tank Law – Monitor industrial chemical leaks & clean-up 1986 - USA Community RTK Act (CERCLA) Established Toxics Release Inventory – Industries must report annual chemical releases & pollution prevention targets 2 of 4
  • 37. TRI Releases for 2007 for Selected Electronics Companies Total On-site Disposal or Total Off-site Disposal Total On- and Off-site Disposal Facility City State Other Releases or Other Releases or Other Releases IBM CORP HOPEWELL JUNCTION NY 1074661 22249.4 1096911 SILTRONIC CORP. PORTLAND OR 635958 3.3 635961 SANYO SOLAR (USA) LLC CARSON CA 8069 234714 242783 IBM CORP ESSEX JUNCTION VT 185718 2645.1034 188363 SONY ELECTRONICS INC. DOTHAN AL 74820 16891.52 91711 MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC BOISE ID 88375 864.3 89239 PHILIPS LUMILEDS LIGHTING CO SAN JOSE CA 73231 0 73231 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC DALLAS TX 23652 44124.89 67776 DU PONT ELECTRONICS MICROCIRCU ITS INDUSTRIES LTD. MANATI PR 1428 34679.232 36107 INTEL CORP RIO RANCHO NM 18193 3589.9 21783
  • 38.
  • 39. The footprint of high-tech development
  • 40.
  • 42. Activists Chide Dell Computer Recycling
  • 46. Our movement expands as Industry moves out of S.V. Global High-Tech Production is Undergoing the Largest Industrial Expansion in the History of the World
  • 47. We are undergoing the “Largest industrial transition in history” • 127 new fabs – Total exceeds $115 billion – $1- 3 billion each – 300 mm fabs may double the cost • 200 mm to 300 mm fabs: $14 billion – “Largest industrial transition in history” Source: SEMI
  • 48. High Tech manufacturing is global Electronics factory in China
  • 49. The scale is staggering Over 500,00 workers at Foxconn in China
  • 50. Electronics Supply Chain Research done by Sarah Boyd
  • 51. Taiwan: Workers Link Cancer to RCA Plant by Matthew Yi, San Francisco Chronicle May 24th, 2002 While many laud the globalization of technology as a positive force that spreads the wealth and helps industry grow, a group of Taiwanese workers came to Silicon Valley Thursday to tell a different story. Their tale has to do with a former RCA facility in Taiwan's northern county of Taoyuan. More than 1,000 former employees of that facility are suffering from cancer and more than 200 have died, according to the visiting workers, who used to make TVs and semiconductors. Most of those afflicted believe the company's plants polluted groundwater with toxic chemicals, leading to the outbreak of illness, according to the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries and the Self-Help Association of Former RCA Employees. Both are based in Taipei and were represented at a news conference held in San Jose Thursday, seeking publicity for the workers' claims. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2649
  • 52. RCA Workers in Taiwan
  • 53.
  • 54. E-Waste Dumped in Guiyu, China
  • 55. Women sorting wires to burn in China
  • 56. Burning E-Waste in Guiyu, China
  • 57. Woman breaking a CRT monitor in China
  • 58. A Chinese child sits amongst a pile of wires and e-waste. Children can often be found dismantling e- waste containing many hazardous chemicals known to be potentially very damaging to children's health.
  • 59. E-Waste problems continue • Wired for gold - (China Daily) • Updated: 2011-11-16 07:59 • By Cheng Anqi and Erik Nilsson • http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/life/2011-11/16/content_14104157.htm
  • 60. The Digital Dump A new report on e-waste dumping in Africa by the Basel Action Network October 24, 2005
  • 62. E-Waste and Clean Production Conference in Bejing – April 2004
  • 64. Waste Not Asia in Kerala, 2007
  • 65. Farmers and fishermen protest high-tech pollution in Taiwan
  • 66. Recent studies from Taiwan • Increased standardized incidence ratio of breast cancer in female electronics workers • Tzu-I Sung1, Pau-Chung Chen1,2, Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn Lee3, Yi-Ping Lin2,4, • Gong-Yih Hsieh1 and Jung-Der Wang*1,2,5
  • 67. Recent studies from Taiwan Sung TI, Wang JD, Chen PC. Increased risks of infant mortality and of deaths due to congenital malformation in the offspring of male electronics workers. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol 2008. Chang YM, Tai CF, Yang SC, et al. Cancer incidence among workers potentially exposed to chlorinated solvents in an electronics factory. J Occup Health 2005;47:171-80.
  • 68. Summary of Occupational Illness in Korean electronics (compiled by Dr. Kong of SHARPS) Samsung Electronics Total Semiconductor LCD Mobile etc. Subtotal phone No.of Victims Total 79 16 3 9 107 149 Cancer 63 10 2 6 81 114 Total 27 7 2 5 41 59 No.of Deaths Cancer 23 6 1 5 35 53
  • 69. Environmental Challenges and Transparency in China For more info www.ipe.org.cn Ma Jun 02/11/2011
  • 70.
  • 72. KEY FINDINGS 5: BRANDS TURNED PROACTIVE Checks on Use of Public I Push for Suppliers to Further Extension of Supplier Information to Enhance Make Environmental Violation Supply Chain Corrective Action Management into the Checked Replied to Cases Management & Disclose Information Supply Chain the Company Name NGO Directly Purpose of Considered Decided to Corrective Regular Pushing Tier Letter the Study Performed Performed Establishing Establish Action Disclosure of Extended 1 Suppliers to Initial In-depth to Main a Search a Search & Discharge Manage Tier Checks Checks Materials Mechanism Mechanism Explanation Data 2 Suppliers Siemens √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X Vodafone √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X √ Philips √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X √ X Nokia √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X Alcatel-Lucent √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X BT √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X √ HP √ √ √ √ √ X √ X X X Samsung √ √ √ √ √ X √ X X X Sanyo √ √ √ √ √ X √ X X X Sony √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X X Toshiba √ √ √ √ √ X X X X X Panasonic √ √ √ v √ X X X X X Sharp √ √ √ X √ X X X X X Lenovo √ √ √ X √ X X X X X Intel √ √ √ X √ X X X X X Seiko Epson √ X √ √ √ X X X X X Motorola √ √ √ √ √ X X X X X Hitachi √ √ √ √ X X X X X X Canon √ X √ √ X X X X X X Cisco √ X √ √ X X X X X X Dell √ √ √ √ X X X X X X Apple √ √ √ √ √ X X X X X Haier √ √ √ X X X X X X X TCL √ √ √ X X X X X X X Foxconn √ √ √ X X X X X X X SingTel √ √ √ X X X X X X X BYD √ √ √ X √ X X X X X IBM √ X √ X X X X X X X LG √ X √ X X X X X X X Ericsson √ X √ X X X X X X X BlackBerry- Rim √ X √ X X X X X X X
  • 73. International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT) Global Symposium on Strategies for a Sustainable High-Tech Industry November 14-17, 2002 San Jose, CA http://www.svtc.org/icrt/index.html
  • 74. Activists gather at First Symposium on Global Strategies for a Sustainable High-Tech Industry - 2002
  • 75. International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT) Mission Statement, adopted November 16, 2002 • We are an international solidarity network that promotes corporate and government accountability in the global electronics industry. We are united by our concern for the lifecycle impacts of this industry on health, the environment and workers' rights.
  • 76. Soesterberg Principles Electronic Sustainability Commitment Each new generation of technical improvements in electronic products should include parallel and proportional improvements in environmental, health and safety as well as social justice attributes. Adopted by the Trans-Atlantic Network for Clean Production, May 16, 1999
  • 77.
  • 78. Forward to Challenging the Chip • “We need a lot more “people’s histories” like those in this book. The stories of brave and creative women and men who fight back when their lives and their children’s lives are threatened. These are the stories of people challenging the corporate elite and speaking truth to power – whether the power be the corporations or the governments that allow these practices to continue. Such stories teach us that when people come together across traditional boundaries – geographic, political, racial, etcetera – they can actually change the world.” – Jim Hightower, former state elected official in Texas
  • 80. Book tour at Beijing University
  • 81. Consumer Education: The Story of Stuff & The Story of Electronics • What is the Story of Stuff? From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. http://www.storyofstuff.com/ The Story of Electronics This video explores the high-tech revolution's collateral damage—25 million tons of e- waste and counting, poisoned workers and a public left holding the bill. Host Annie Leonard takes viewers from the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the horrific backyard recycling shops in China where many end up. The film concludes with a call for a green 'race to the top' where designers compete to make long-lasting, toxic-free products that are fully and easily recyclable. http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/
  • 82. UN expert meeting charts the way forward on hazardous chemicals in electronic products Historic meeting addresses entire lifecycle of electronics For the first time, more than 100 experts from around the world gathered in Vienna, Austria to make recommendations for a UN process on reducing and eliminating hazardous chemicals in the design, manufacturing, and end of life stages of electronic products. Concerns over toxic exposures during manufacturing, use, and recycling of electronic products provoked governments, the private sector, and public interest NGOs from around the world to call for the meeting at a global conference in 2009.
  • 83. Delegates to Vienna SAICM Meeting – March 2011
  • 84. Key Recommendations from SAICM in Vienna Delegates developed key recommendations: • eliminating chemical hazards during design; • phasing-out hazardous substances; • improving information transparency and flow; • ensuring equal protection of workers, communities, and consumers; • preventing export of hazardous electronic wastes from developed to developing countries; • and controlling export and import of near-end- of-life equipment.
  • 85. Strategic Importance Recognizing that many challenges need to be resolved through improved design of new products, recommendations were made on eliminating chemicals of concern, full ingredient disclosure, identifying and implementing substitution strategies, green procurement and extended producer responsibility.
  • 86. Priority – Reduce Exposure to Hazardous Substances The producers and manufacturers should prioritize reduction of exposure to chemicals, primarily by elimination or substitution of the most hazardous substances and production processes, especially those processes involving worker and community exposure to substances of concern. In the present context, substances of concern include those that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic and/or those that are carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive or developmental toxins, neurotoxins, neurodevelopmental toxins, respiratory toxins, immuno toxins, organ system toxins, and/or endocrine disrupting compounds. ;
  • 87. Early Warning Systems • Producers and manufacturers should cooperate with government, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, health care providers, and others to provide ongoing training to workers, community representatives and first responders to provide early warning systems about the inherent hazards of the materials being used, detailed information about best practices for protection from and reduction of exposure to those hazards, how to recognize early signs of adverse health impacts, and prevention of exposure to all hazards
  • 88. Health Surveillance • Producers and manufacturers, with oversight by the government and the full participation of worker and community representatives should ensure (and report the results to appropriate governmental authorities of): – comprehensive, occupationally relevant health surveillance for all of its workers; – comprehensive ongoing industrial hygiene and environmental monitoring to measure the release and exposure to all hazardous materials used in manufacturing and production; – access to these data (and adequate funding) to ensure comprehensive and independent epidemiological assessments of worker health; – Action plans to preserve and protect worker health based on these data. – In situations where pollution from electronics production facilities has been found in surrounding communities, the manufacturers and producers should cooperate with health researchers and investigators to assess and control adverse health impacts, especially with respect to vulnerable populations.
  • 89. Need for Fair Compensation Governments are encouraged to develop and implement effective liability and compensation legislation for the victims of toxic exposures in the workplace and the community. Given that the electronics industry is characterized by multiple chemical exposures to vulnerable workers to chemicals of concern, many of which are in addition inadequately tested and regulated, and the frequent changes in process chemicals, it is particularly important to develop compensation systems funded by the employers that are designed to address these inherent challenges to fair compensation by developing mechanisms that assure that workers harmed by such exposure qualify for adequate and timely compensation, as well as treatment and rehabilitation.
  • 90. What about EICC? Key critique by Good Electronics: – EICC code is not sufficiently aligned with international labour standards/ILO conventions (This point was supported by Verité) – Very problematic that right to collective bargaining is not included. (This point was supported by Verité) – Code lacks specific details and enforcement – Language of the EICC code is – in places – vague and ambiguous – As a result, code lacks credibility and effectiveness
  • 91. Key Points from the ANROEV Electronics Workshop Jaipur India Nov 17,2001 • Broadening our electronics network • Improving communications (internal and external) • Mapping (supply chain and health) • Continued research to link toxic exposure to health in electronics • Planning for ICRT’s 10th anniversary in 2012
  • 92. Ted Smith Biography • founder and former Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. • co-founder and Chair of the steering committee of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, (which is working to promote life-cycle producer responsibility within the high-tech electronics industry.) • co-founder and Coordinator of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT), (an international network committed to working for the development of sustainable, non-polluting technologies.) • widely published author and respected speaker, and is co-editor of “Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry” published by Temple University Press, 2006 • a graduate of Wesleyan University and Stanford Law School and was a VISTA Volunteer in Washington, DC from 1967 - 1969.
  • 93. For Further Information: Ted Smith – International Campaign for Responsible Technology & Electronics TakeBack Coalition tsmith@igc.org; +408-242-6707 www.icrt.co; www.electronicstakeback.com/home/ http://www.archive.org/details/pioneeractivistsil00smitrich http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt2b69r7hf;style=oac4;view=dsc