The World Newser is World News' daily blog. Here, you'll find our staff's thoughts on the day's news and the way we build our broadcast. Plus, we'll share reports from our team of correspondents in the field, as well as producers behind-the-scenes.
RECENT POSTS
- Documenting the Planet's Demise -- One Striking Photograph at a Time
- President Obama Answers Questions From Anti-Castro Blogger
- Jim Sciutto: A Tiny Town Salutes Its Fallen
- 10 Reasons the Belgians Hate the British
- Is Swine Flu Ebbing?
- Susan Boyle's First Album Makes Amazon CD Sales History
- Another Day, Another Recommendation to Relax Screening for Women
- Clem's Chronicles: Hasan's Emails/FAA outage/Afghanistan
- Herman Who? Unknown Chosen For First EU President
- Eight Years Later: 'Most Dangerous Place To Be Born'
- "New Moon" Turns Daughter Into Lobbyist
- Empty Shelves at Luxury Stores This Holiday Season?
WORLD NEWSER CATEGORIES
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
Greenpeace Protests Hewlett-Packard in Beijing
June 25, 2009 10:02 AM
ABC’s Jennifer Wu and Emily MacDonald report from Beijing:
Three Greenpeace activists dressed in chemical suits and face masks resembling that of Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, Mark Hurd, arrived at HP’s headquarters in Beijing. Armed with a set of HP laptops, they demanded that a representative from HP come and collect the computers which featured the company logo on their screens and a caption reading, “Hazardous Products.” The reason: the global corporation had pushed back its promised deadline to phase out the use of certain toxins in its electronics. Originally the end of 2009, the pledged date to eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from HP products has been bumped back two years to 2011.
While the corporation’s PVC and BFRs usage is legal under current American and Chinese environmental regulations, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists PVC as a carcinogen and states that BFRs may cause liver, thyroid, and neurodevelopmental toxicities. Given safety concerns, HP has reduced the amount of BFRs and ensured that PVC plastics are not used in the external parts and packaging of products, but environmentalists say this is not enough.
Jamie Choi, Greenpeace China’s Toxics Campaign Manager stood beside the suited activists and placed a call to HP’s Corporate Marketing Director, Charles Shen, who was inside the building. Shen wanted to avoid the media and refused to come down. “We told them that unless they come down, we will not be leaving today and we will come back tomorrow,” Choi told ABC News.
Past Greenpeace efforts in its campaign against HP’s environmental practices include of face-to-face confrontations in private meetings with company representatives. Choi said that Greenpeace essentially is in its seventh year of discussion with HP, and that the company is well aware of the hazards of its products. Today’s protest marked Greenpeace’s fourth in Beijing, a strategic position due to China’s position as a major site for production and manufacturing. The NGO has held demonstrations against HP in Europe and recently in Russia. The last time Greenpeace protested in front of HP’s Beijing headquarters was in December of 2005 but little progress has been made since then.
Greenpeace claims Dell and Lenovo, HP’s competitors, have already begun phasing out their use of the toxic chemicals, proving timely and more substantial change is economically and technically feasible. Furthermore, she reasons that as the largest personal computer maker, HP has both the “money and responsibility” to keep its promise. According to Greenpeace, the electronics giant continues to cite excuses such as technical issues and claims that the supply chain is not ready.
Apple previously had come under Greenpeace pressure as well, but was actually among the first to take products with PVC and BFR off the market. Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola reportedly started their respective campaigns in 2004 while HP launched its in 2007. HP though now lags behind its peers who have stuck with their target timeframe of a 2008-2010 completed phase-out.
At the protest today, an HP representative eventually came down and collected the laptops but refused to speak with the media. When ABC News asked HP for comment they told us that “given the size and scale of HP’s supply chain we are working to identify suitable alternatives that enable us to balance product safety and assure supply.” They assured the public that eliminating BFRs and PVC in their products was a top priority and that they were “committed” to putting out products that were BFRs and PVC free this year, although they did not say that all their products would be free of these substances. When Greenpeace was asked whether the day’s demonstration was a success, Jamie Choi told ABC News, “We will see. We hope that through today’s action we will be able to give HP the pressure that it needs to change.”
June 25, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (10)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
They did the right thing, and HP and all computer makers should take notice!
Posted by: sabniz | Jun 25, 2009 10:58:40 AM
Enviromental Terrorism at its best.
Posted by: George | Jun 25, 2009 12:31:32 PM
Another reason my house is all Apple! Well done, GREENPEACE! Keep up the great work!
Posted by: LynnZTV | Jun 25, 2009 2:24:05 PM
Ronald McDonald's cousins. You can see it from the expressions on their faces in the photo they are totally not into it. They only want to promote fastfood. It seems only Mt. Rushmore has less animated enthusiasm than these caricatures.
Posted by: Jerry Rosen | Jun 25, 2009 3:55:07 PM
HP is tanking, that's Karma in action...
Posted by: Hege321 | Jun 25, 2009 3:59:55 PM
I wonder if these bozos at Greenpeace have anything better to do with themselves?
Posted by: marco | Jun 25, 2009 4:17:54 PM
HP just ins't the innovative leader of a company that Bill & Dave started 50 years ago, very sad to see.
Posted by: 4californiagirl | Jun 26, 2009 2:26:06 AM
YOU GO GREENPEACE - THANKS FOR PROTECTING INNOOCENT CONSUMERS NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE - EVEN THE BOZOS WHO ARE AGAINST YOU!!
Posted by: amber | Jun 26, 2009 2:30:48 AM
Sure looks like "Harmful Products" and not "Hazardous Products" in the photo.
Posted by: Alexandria, VA | Jun 26, 2009 7:09:41 AM
While improvements can and should be made I have always wondered if the protesters use the products they protest.
Do they know how long those rubber gloves and chemical suits will last in a land fill? If they’re burned it will produce pollution and use fossil fuels for the fire. Even the process of recycling burns fossil fuels.
They use boats leaking oil to get to an oil well to wave signs made made of paper which was produced by destroying trees. God knows what went into the paint on the signs!
Hypocrisy abounds.
Posted by: Oonogil | Jun 29, 2009 8:35:51 AM
Post a comment
