Perspectives on Social Issues
(May 2004)
Shareholders Bring Social and Environmental Change
"Shareholders helped catalyze social and environmental corporate change in 2003 and early 2004, and they're poised to be even more effective throughout the rest of this year....
- In January 2003, the SEC mandated significant disclosure by mutual fund companies and investment advisers of their resolution (proxy) voting guidelines, voting policies and procedures, and actual votes cast on behalf of clients or fund investors. Initial disclosure of these votes will take place by August 31, 2004.
- Oral mercury thermometers were phased out in 2003 at Cardinal Health, HCA, and JC Penney (Eckerd Drugstores), among others, as a result of shareholder pressure.
- After pressure from investors and environmental groups, Staples announced a procurement policy to increase the post-consumer recycled and alternative-fiber content in the paper it sells to 30 percent. The policy also seeks to phase out paper derived from endangered forests.
- As a result of resolutions filed on climate change issues, Staples agreed to set a goal for increasing renewable energy use, and Gillette and Reebok agreed to establish a baseline for greenhouse gas emissions.
- After years of pressure from union funds, Unocal agreed to a code of conduct based on core International Labor Organization (ILO) standards that recognize the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining."
"Shareholder Action: Get Involved," Real Money, Coop America, Mar/Ap 2004.
Dangerous Mercury Levels for Newborns
"According to recently revised estimates, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now believes that 630,000 newborns are exposed each year to potentially dangerous levels of mercury. The EPA's revision reflects a newer, more accurate mechanism for predicting mercury exposure in newborns based upon mercury levels in maternal blood. The primary source of maternal exposure to mercury is fish eating. The Food and Drug Administration advises women who are pregnant, or who plan to become pregnant, to limit the amount of fish they eat, and avoid shark, king mackerel, swordfish, and tilefish completely. They should also limit their intake of albacore (or "white") tuna. Recent studies have shown that the amount of mercury in canned white tuna is twice as high as past FDA estimates for canned tuna, and three times the levels in light tuna. The EPA presented the revised estimates at the National Forum on Contaminants in Fish, January 26, 2004. The presentation, "Update on Recent Epidemiological Mercury Studies" by Kate Mahaffey, is available on the EPA's website: www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/foruml 2004/agenda.htm."
"Number of Babies Estimated at Risk from Mercury Exposure Doubles," Science for the People, From the Ground Up, Ecology Center, Mar/Ap 2004.
Juveniles in Adult Prisons
"Nationwide, more juveniles than ever are being sentenced as adults, judges lament a lack of sentencing flexibility, and state-mandated sentences have grown harsher.
- In 1995, the last year for which U.S. statistics are available, more than 1.7 million juveniles -- children 17 and under -- were being detained annually, either to await sentencing or as adjudicated cases.
- In 1997, the National Institute for Justice reported that statistically there were 14,500 juveniles in adult facilities 'on any given day' though 'the actual number of juveniles in adult prison is much higher than the daily count. There are no current estimates of the number of youth admitted to jail each year.'
- The institute listed the top four states incarcerating juveniles in adult prisons as North Carolina, New York, Illinois and Florida. Those with the most juveniles 13-15 in adult correction facilities were Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas and Georgia.
- Nationally, there were a half-million incidents of children placed in solitary confinement. Prisons everywhere are overcrowded. The California Youth Authority, with 4,300 juveniles in detention, has 25 percent more inmates than the facilities were designed for."
"Juvenile Justice" by Arthur Jones, National Catholic Reporter, Ap 2004.
"'State of the Dream 2004: Enduring Disparities in Black and White,' released in January by United for a Fair Economy, catalogues the continuing and, in some cases, worsening gaps of income, wealth, poverty, health, housing, education, and imprisonment among African-American and white populations in the United States in the last 30 years.
- White homeownership has increased 10 percent since 1970; African-American homeownership has risen 6 percent.
- At this rate, it will take 1,664 years to close the homeownership gap-about 55 generations.
- The African-American poverty rate was three times greater than the white poverty rate in 2002.
- An African-American high school graduate working full time from ages 25 to 64 would earn $300,000 less than a white high school graduate.
- The 2001 infant mortality rate was 14 deaths per 1,000 live births for African Americans and 5.7 for whites.
- For every dollar of white income per capita, African-Americans had 55 cents in 1968 and only 57 cents in 2001.
- At this rate, it will take African-Americans 581 years to get the remaining 43 cents."
Source: "State of the Dream 2004: Enduring Disparities in Black and White." as reprinted in Sojourners Magazine, May 2004.
Environmental Concerns
"Scientists say that humans have destroyed more than 30 percent of the natural world since 1970, seriously depleting the forest, freshwater, and marine systems.
At least four additional planets' worth of resources would be needed to support Earth's six billion inhabitants if we all consumed at the level of the average U.S. citizen.
By 2020, the number of asthma sufferers in the United States is projected to double to 29 million, with one out of five families affected.
Of the 63-person energy advisory team George W. Bush convened early in his administration, only one member did not have ties to corporate energy interests.
One in twelve U.S. women has enough mercury in her bloodstream to cause significant neurological damage to a developing fetus."
"On the Environment" by Chris Nichols, The Other Side, May/June 2004.
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Gratitude to the Institute for Peace and Justice
for use of their Pope Paul VIth graphic. |
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