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

Report back from recent UN meeting in Vienna on the

 hazards of electronics throughout the lifecycle

Amanda Hawes and Ted Smith

(Founders of the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition)

Date: Monday, April 25th, 2011

Times: 12:00-1:15pm & 1:30-2:45pm

Location: Health Building 407, San Jose State University (SJSU)

Description:

Hawes and Smith will discuss their advocacy work in Silicon Valley since the 1970’s and report back on the potential impacts of the recent meeting of a UN working group in Vienna that they attended on the Hazardous substances within the life cycle of electrical and electronic products – see http://www.saicm.org/index.php?menuid=9&pageid=423&submenuheader=



Amanda Hawes co-founded SCCOSH in 1977 as fruit-processing workers in the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” were transitioning from their seasonal, physically and demanding assembly work to “high tech” electronics assembly jobs – widely viewed at the time as “clean” , “safe” , “light industry”



She worked with SCCOSH for its 25 years of advocacy for better working conditions in the electronics industry – not only in Silicon Valley and in the maquiladoras of Mexico, but also Malaysia, the Philippines, Scotland and other venues. Ms. Hawes has served on the Board of Worksafe from 2003 to present and works for Alexander Hawes LLP in San Jose where she specializes in civil suits for children harmed by in utero exposure to toxics in the “clean” semiconductor industry. Since 2003 WORKSAFE has taken up many of the campaigns SCCOSH initiated. Amanda graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968.



Ted Smith is founder and former Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a grass roots environmental coalition formed in 1982 in response to environmental pollution caused by electronics manufacturing in Silicon Valley, California. 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. He has served on the boards of several environmental non-profit organizations and is an environmental stakeholder in formal processes convened by Hewlett-Packard and Dell. He 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.



Ted Smith will discuss the life cycle impacts of the high tech electronics revolution (from mining materials through production, use and disposal) and compare the environmental and occupational health impacts in Silicon Valley with the growing global impacts, particularly in Asia.

Amanda Hawes will discuss the impact on production workers’ children (birth defects, mental deficits, cancer) of the semiconductor industry’s history of reliance on developmental and reproductive toxicants, mutagens and carcinogens.



For additional information about the recent UN meeting results, visit the ICRT web site at www.icrt.co