Communities and Workers Beware

DONATE/JOIN NOW | RESOURCES | ACT NOW | ABOUT SVTC | PROGRAMS | MEDIA CENTER

Globalization - Our strategy - Networking - ICRT Purpose - - Beware - ICRT Projects High Tech Impacts Sustainable Production Sustainable Water Enviro Health & Justice Join our List-serve Links Publications Sitemap Contact us Archive Photo gallery		HOME > Globalization > Communities & Workers Beware Communities and Workers Beware! Did You Know: The electronics industry is the world's largest and most rapidly expanding industry: High tech executives project that up to 140 new semiconductor manufacturing plants, costing up to $1-3 billion each, will be built world-wide before the turn of the century. According to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, the semiconductor industry has forecasted sales of $130 billion worldwide for 1996, and $154 billion for 1997, an 18% increase in one year! High Tech's impact on the Environment: On average, the production of an eight-inch wafer uses the following resources: 4,267 cubic feet of bulk gases 3,787 gallons of waste water 27 pounds of chemicals 29 cubic feet of hazardous gases 9 pounds of hazardous waste 3,023 gallons of de-ionized water If each new plant produces 5,000 wafers a week (Intel, New Mexico estimate ), at the current rate of resource usage, the increased environmental impact would be: 116 billion cubic feet of bulk gases 103 billion gallons of waste water 728 million pounds of chemicals 798 million cubic feet of hazardous gases 252 million pounds of hazardous waste 83 billion gallons of deionized water In the birth place of high tech, Silicon Valley, 24 of the 29 sites listed on the National Priorities List (Superfund Sites) for clean up of contaminated soil and water, were caused by high tech companies. Water use by high tech is among the highest of all industrial sectors, with one high tech facility in New Mexico using 1.6 billion gallons per year, and another in Arizona using 1 billion gallons/year. From 1987 to 1993, the US EPA reported that 177 tons of toxic chemicals were released into the air by just one high tech facility in the Silicon Valley. More than 700 compounds are used to make one computer work station. More than 12,000,000 computers, amounting to more than 300,000 tons of electronic junk, are disposed of annually. Much of this is shipped to China and burned, releasing vast amounts of highly toxic chemicals such as dioxins and benzene. Only 3% of electronic junk is currently refurbished and recycled. High Tech's impact on the Workers Semiconductor workers experience illness rates 3 times greater than manufacturing workers in other industries. In recent studies, women who worked in fabrication rooms were found to have rates of miscarriages of 40% or more above non-manufacturing workers. This year, a group of line workers at an IBM facility filed suit against several chemical companies alleging that their cancers were caused by chemical exposure on the job. Current processes of disassembling and recycling computers often involve hazardous working conditions. High Tech's abuse of tax subsidies: In its Rio Rancho facility in New Mexico, Intel received a tax subsidy (via an Industrial Revenue Bond) of $8 billion. It also received an addition $250 million in tax credits and additional subsidies. Huge subsidies are becoming increasingly common in high tech expansion decisions. High Tech and Social Injustices: Increasingly, the "dirtier" processes of high tech production--semiconductor and circuit board manufacturing and assembly--are taking place in lower-income areas and communities of color in the US and in "third-world" countries throughout the world. Developed by Campaign for Responsible Technology, 760 N. 1st Street, San Jose, CA 95112 (408) 287-6707

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 760 N. First Street San Jose, CA 95112 Phone: +1 408-287-6707
Fax: +1 408-287-6771 e-mail: svtc@svtc.org
PRIVACY POLICY