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The lawsuit punctures the carefully cultivated image of high-tech manufacturing as a 'clean' industry. The reality is that making computer components is actually a chemical-dependent process that uses some of the most toxic substances, powerful acids, solvents, heavy metals and toxic gases-ever created. The harmful health effects of these chemicals-some are carcinogenic, reproductive- or neuro-toxins-have been known for decades, although the electronics industry has downplayed the human costs incurred while creating their products. For example, studies have revealed that animals exposed to some of these chemicals have given birth to offspring with skeletal defects and other abnormalities and that there was reason to expect similar effects in humans. In another study, workers exposed to glycol ethers had a significantly higher rate of miscarriage. The chemicals, often used together, create a toxic soup to which the workers are exposed every day over prolonged periods of time. The case has national implications and is being watched by both industry and environment and public health activists. To date, more than 250 lawsuits by workers and their families have been filed against IBM in New York, Vermont and Minnesota and several of IBM's chemical suppliers, notably Kodak and DuPont. In the first of these cases to go to trial in San Jose, CA, two former IBM workers, Alida Hernandez and Jim Moore, claim their cancers are a result of their exposure to toxic chemicals while working at IBM. They also allege IBM didn't inform them about the links between their health problems and their jobs after IBM's medical team performed tests on them. The company's response has been to say that connections cannot be made between workplace chemical exposure and the current health of its workers. Moreover, IBM says it did not lie to its workers about known health risks nor withhold information from them. What's unique about the IBM suit is that the company has extensively studied the health of its workers. This means the jury will assess not just if the company knew about the potential health consequences of its manufacturing process, but also whether it withheld that information from its workforce. Since 1969, the company has kept mortality records for nearly all of its employees in the United States-30,000 records in total. An independent analysis of these records demonstrated that IBM workers exposed to chemicals on the job die much earlier than non-exposed workers and they also have significantly higher rates of toxic related cancers. Thus, this trial is the furthest anyone has come in making the connection between cancer and the chemicals used in the manufacture of electronics. To date, testimony by toxicologists, epidemiologists and former IBM medical staff all have illuminated a systematic pattern of withholding critical health information from the workers. For example: A nurse who worked at IBM testified that a manager ordered medical staff never to say workers' ailments were caused by toxic chemicals, and that there was an "unwritten policy of not reporting chemical exposure as the cause of employee health complaints and instead blaming symptoms on allergies, alcohol or fatty foods to avoid workers' compensation claims." Dr. Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist at Boston University, analyzed IBM's corporate mortality files. He testified that "cancer is a significant problem in this workforce that's represented in this database," and that the percentage of cancer cases at IBM is well above national averages-four times higher for brain cancer, six times higher for multiple myeloma and twice as high for breast cancer. Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum, a toxicologist and occupational medicine specialist with more than 35 years experience, testified that the "electronics industry has banded together to obstruct research, but they ought to band together to discover and research the toxicity of the materials [they use].... They need to do chemical research before the chemicals come into the workplace." Hundreds of former I.B.M. workers have contracted cancers (rare brain tumors, breast and reproductive cancers) and leukemia, which they believe are linked to the chemicals they used. In other cases, plaintiffs are claiming that birth defects in their children are linked to parental exposure to workplace chemicals. It is fitting that the first trial examining the electronic industry's toxic manufacturing legacy take place in Silicon Valley, the birthplace of the high-tech industry. The case will have a ripple effect, both in Silicon Valley and other high-tech 'Silicon regions' of the world. A lawsuit against National Semiconductor is in the discovery stages." The significance of this case is not just that workers were exposed to harmful chemicals. It is the first trial where an electronics company is on trial for concealing knowledge of harmful working conditions in its early clean rooms. Sometimes it takes a courtroom and community action to expose what has long been an open secret in the boardroom-and to hold those responsible accountable for the human costs associated with a profit-making juggernaut. For more information, check out these links to impacts of the high-tech industry,, human health impacts, recent media stories, worker organizing, and legal documents that have been filed. Leslie Byster worked with Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for more than 10 years and currently serves as a consultant. Ted Smith is the executive director and founder. For more than 20 years, the organization has alerted the public about the community, environmental and occupational health impacts of the global electronics industry.

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