Filipino viewers moved by film about workers who are dying to make e-gadgets we cannot live without
“Stories from the
Clean Room,” a
moving documentary exposing
health and human
rights violations in the electronics
industry, drew close to 300
viewers at its screening yesterday at Cine Adarna, University of the
Philippines (UP) Film Institute. The
attendees came from various youth and student groups, labor federations,
informal waste workers’ associations, and environmental and health
organizations.
The film, directed
by Supporters for
the Health and
Rights of People
in the Semiconductor
Industry (SHARPS), a South Korean
public interest organization, shed light
on the toxic chemicals used in
the manufacturing of electronics, especially at the so-called “Clean Rooms,”
and their impacts to workers’ health and safety.
The EcoWaste Coalition, KAISA-Nagkakaisang Iskolar para
sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan (KAISA UP) and the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan
(SPARK) co-organized the film screening in partnership with SHARPS, IPEN (a
global NGO network for a toxics-free future), Swedish Society for Nature
Conservation, and a host of concerned local organizations.
IPEN and partner groups screening the film in 25 countries
are hoping that public
awareness of the
dangerous chemicals in
electronics will spur
the public and
governments to demand
that the industry
reveal listings of
toxic chemicals and
end to the
practice of hiding
toxic liabilities behind
“trade secrets.”
“Clean Rooms” refers to the highly controlled
areas within electronics
factories where large
numbers of dangerous
chemicals are used
in the course
of electronics production.
The irony in
the name is
that the face masks
and body suits
for workers entering
the “Clean Rooms” are not designed
for worker safety,
but rather to
keep dust and
dirt off of the products.
The film featured testimonies of
23 people whose lives
have been devastated
by sickness and
death from toxic
chemical exposures while
making LCD screens
and the chips
that power our
electronic devices such as laptops and mobile phones.
“There were no
dry eyes when
we previewed this
film. The people
telling their stories
in this movie
are ringing an
alarm bell that
we in the Philippines need to
heed to protect our workers, especially women who are the prime labor
force in the electronics industry,” said Primo Morillo, E-Waste Campaigner,
EcoWaste Coalition. “Chemicals in electronics
production is not
only an issue
for workers’ health,
it is a
women’s issue as
well because many
of the dangerous
chemicals in electronics
production are especially
threatening to a
developing fetus.”
After the film screening, Dr. Jeong-ok Kong of SHARPS
delivered a video message where she updated the audience that they were able to
claim victory for more than 30 workers who are now set to receive compensation.
"These victories open the door of Korean workers compensation system
widely for other victims," she said. Kong also underscored that this is a
product of a long struggle, including sit-in street protests that lasted for
1,023 days.
Hwang Sang-gi lost
his 22-year-old daughter
Hwang Yumi to
leukemia after her stint as a semiconductor worker. Like
most others in
the predominately female
electronics labor force,
Yumi had been
recruited from high
school. She worked
on a fabrication
line bathing semiconductor
chips in chemicals.
Learning that another
young woman from
the same production
line also died
of the same
disease, Hwang Sang-gi
began an inquiry
that has grown
into a movement
to break the
silence around hazardous chemicals
used in the
electronics industry.
In “Stories
from the Clean
Room,” Mr. Hwang
and 22 others
describe grave illnesses,
such as leukemia,
lymphomas, brain tumors,
multiple sclerosis, and
infertility, and share
their visceral stories
about common chemical
exposures in electronics
production. Another father
in the film
whose daughter, Yoon
Eun-jin, worked at
Samsung Semiconductor and
died at age
23 said, “We know
now that they
used really deadly
chemicals, but we
didn’t know back
then. Did the
company ask the
parents for permission
and tell them
the company is
using deadly chemicals?
If we’d known,
we wouldn’t have
sent our kids
there.”
“Workers and their
families are paying
a painful cost
for use of
toxic chemicals in
electronics production. These
costs should be
paid by the
industry,” said Jongran
Lee of SHARPS. “Products should
be designed and
produced in ways
that eliminate their
potential for harm
to human health
and the environment.”
Toxic
chemicals used in
electronics include solvents,
metals, persistent organic
pollutants, such as
certain flame retardants,
endocrine disruptors, and
known carcinogens, mutagens,
and substances toxic
to reproduction and
development. In South Korea, a
peer-reviewed scientific study revealed
high rates of
spontaneous abortion and
menstrual aberration among
female microelectronics workers
aged 20 to
39 years old.
Similar concerns emerged
when researchers in
Vietnam recently published
a revealing report
exposing health and
labor violations at
mobile phone factories,
including reports that
miscarriages are common.
“Mobile
phones and computers
are used daily
by billions of
people, but few
are aware of
the toxic chemicals
used or the
occupational health and
safety issues involved
in electronics production,” said Dr. Joe DiGangi, Senior Science
and Technical Advisor of IPEN. “Stories
from the Clean
Room” pulls back
the curtain to
show the human
face of harm
and the need
for action.”
To date, SHARPS
has documented over
400 cases of
severe and often
fatal occupational illnesses
related to exposures
in the electronics
industry in South
Korea. While 144
workers have died,
a growing number
have won court
and government rulings
linking their illnesses
to work in
electronics factories. Samsung,
the largest and
most secretive electronics
corporation, continues to
refuse to reveal
the chemicals that
it uses in
manufacturing. Corporate refusal
to disclose chemical
identity and denial
of compensation to
sick workers and
their families are
running themes in
the film.
-end-
You may watch the trailer here:
Comments
buy research chemicals canada