Occupational and Environmental Hazards in the Global electronics industry:

the Campaign in Silicon Valley

Presented at the 10th Asia-Pacific NGOs’ Environmental Conference

Civil Service Development Institute

Taipei CityNovember 20, 2011

Ted Smith, Founder, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition;

Electronics TakeBack Coalition; andInternational Campaign for Responsible Technology

www.icrt.co

Silicon Valley used to be known as the

“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

History of organizing for better conditions

• In the mid 1970'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 TC

• The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) also started out as an early project of SCCOSH.

History of organizing for better conditions

1981 – Toxic leaks into the water supply discovered at Fairchild and IBM

1982 – Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition formed as a project of SCCOSH

1983 Cal- OSHA semiconductor study does not investigate reproductive and cancer hazards

1984 - “The not so clean business of making chips” by Dr. Joseph LaDou published in Technology Review from MIT

1985 Media charge chip makers with keeping two sets of records for toxic exposures and systematically underreporting # of affected workers.

History of organizing for better conditions

1986 - First report of elevated miscarriage and illness rates in clean rooms reported at Digital Equipment Corporation

1986 - IBM workers ask about cancer in clean rooms. IBM says ‘no problem’

1992 – Results of epidemiological reports by IBM and Semiconductor Industry Association report high rates of miscarriages

1992 - First call for replacement of ethylene glycol ethers: “Campaign to end the Miscarriage of Justice”

2000s – HealthWatch organizes WE LEAP OSH trainings for 12 ethnic groups, including Chinese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Indian, Korean, Latino, Vietnamese, etc.

Toxic Trouble in Silicon ValleyNewsweek 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

New York Times – November 10, 1984

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

IBM Corporate Mortality Filehttp://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 suitJanuary 23, 2001 Case involved

microchip site workers' son

• By Craig WolfPoughkeepsie 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.

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. )

Toxic AgentToxic AgentBest OCC Best OCC

STDDSTDD8 hr. TWA8 hr. TWA

Best Env. STDDBest Env. STDDNSRL or MCLNSRL or MCL

Env. STDDEnv. STDDconverted to converted to 8 8

hr. TWAhr. TWA

YieldYield in in improved improved

worker worker protectionprotection

BenzeneBenzene1 part per1 part per

millionmillion7 ug/day7 ug/day 1 part per 1 part per

billionbillion 1,000:11,000:1

TCETCE 25 ppm25 ppm 80 ug/day80 ug/day 7 ppb7 ppb 3,571:13,571:1

PercPerc 25 ppm25 ppm 14 ug/day14 ug/day .3 ppb.3 ppb 8,333:18,333:1

Methylene ChlorideMethylene Chloride 25 ppm25 ppm 0.005 mg/L0.005 mg/L 1 ppb1 ppb 25,000:125,000:1

The wake up call !! The Fairchild Case --

Groundwater pollution in Silicon Valley poisons families

Right-To-Know Grows in 1982

TRI Releases for 2007for Selected Electronics Companies

Facility City StateTotal On-site Disposal or Other Releases

Total Off-site Disposal or Other Releases

Total On- and Off-site Disposal or Other Releases

IBM CORP HOPEWELL JUNCTION NY 1074661 22249.4 1096911

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

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

Body Burden(1000+ Chemicals Used in Electronics Production)

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

Source: SEMI

New Fab Construction

• 127 new fabs in planning & construction – Total to exceed $115 billion– $1 billion each– 300 mm fabs may double the cost

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

Electronics Supply ChainResearch done by Sarah Boyd

Unraveling the High-Tech Supply Chain

                                                                                                             

High Tech manufacturing is global

Electronics factory in China

The scale is staggeringOver 500,00 workers at Foxconn in China

Workers are on the move

Taiwan: Workers Link Cancer to RCA Plantby 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.

The Digital Dump A new report on e-waste dumping in Africa

by the Basel Action NetworkOctober 24, 2005

Global e-waste dumping

E-Waste and Clean Production Conference in Bejing – April 2004

Eco-Waste activists in Manila

Waste Not Asiain Kerala, 2007

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.

Consumer Education: The Story of Electronics

• The Story of Electronics 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/

Delegates to Vienna SAICM Meeting – March 2011

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.

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.

Health-Based Exposure Limits• Governments should formulate, promote, and implement

health-based exposure limits for workers. These exposure limits are to be based on thorough and adequate hazard testing of all chemicals and mixtures used and produced throughout the life cycle. Producers, manufacturers and suppliers of chemicals are responsible for performing these tests. Exposure limit values should be protective of the most vulnerable populations, and should provide equal protection in the workplace and the community; In cases where data are not yet sufficient to develop a health-based exposure limit value, the precautionary principle should be applied, namely by eliminating exposure to chemicals or reducing it as low as possible.

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.

Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs

http://www.ipe.org.cn/

• Water pollution maps of China that trace supply chain back to brands

• Green Choice Alliance

• Engagement with brands to promote pollution prevention

Ma Jun’s slide from IPE in China

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

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

Ted Smith• Ted Smith is founder and former Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

Ted is also 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. In addition, Ted is 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.

• Ted is a 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. In 2001, Ted was recognized by the Dalai Lama for his environmental leadership. In 2006 he was named a Purpose Prize Fellow. In 2008 he was named “Environmentalist of the year” by the Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Stanford Law School and was a VISTA Volunteer in Washington, DC from 1967 - 1969.