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To: Craig Freeman who wrote (32320)	5/15/1999 2:57:00 PM
From: Kent Rattey	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 33344

High-Tech Cancer Link? by Lindsey Arent 3:00 a.m. 15.May.99.PDT For years, high tech was considered a dream industry -- environmentally safe and economically explosive. But a recent report in New Scientist says that workers, especially pregnant women, at chip-manufacturing plants are at significant risk. The 15 May article, which summarizes three studies of miscarriage in the American chip-making industry since 1988, indicates that women who conceive while working in semiconductor factories are 40 to 100 percent more likely to miscarry than other women. In March, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto reported that 13 of 125 pregnant women exposed to solvents bore children with birth defects, as opposed to 1 of 125 for the children of other women. Lawsuits filed during the past few years against chipmakers IBM and National Semiconductor have also exposed the hazards of working in the silicon sector. In IBM's case, the families of 140 current and former employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company and its suppliers. The suit claims that exposure to solvents and toxic chemicals at IBM's East Fishkill, New York, semiconductor plant caused abnormally high cancer, miscarriage, and birth-defect rates in employees or their children. Seventy employees working at the Fishkill plant and 35 at a site in San Jose, California, claim to have contracted testicular cancer, brain cancer, breast and ovarian cancer, and leukemia as a result of working with chemicals and solvents in the factory. Also included in the suit are 20 children of IBM employees, who were born with birth defects ranging from webbed feet and missing fingers to blindness and cranial-facial anomalies. Some have contracted cancer, as well. One serious question posed by the IBM lawsuit is how exposure to chip-making chemicals can affect men and women during conception of children, said Amanda Hawes, attorney for the plaintiff in both suits. "If your work environment exposes you to carcinogenic chemicals, those are very serious concerns if you're trying to have a healthy family. And you shouldn't have to choose between your job and a healthy child," said Hawes. IBM spokesman Ian Colley said that the company imposes "very rigorous safety standards in all of our workplaces which meet or exceed industry regulations." In a similar lawsuit, 23 people have filed claims against National Semiconductor, claiming that exposure to chemicals while working at a Greenock, Scotland, semiconductor plant caused them or family members who had since died to contract various forms of cancer. National Semiconductor was very clear in its assessment of the suit. "Bottom line, there is no scientific link between the semiconductor manufacturing environment and the illnesses that the plaintiffs claim they have," said company spokeswoman LuAnn Jenkins. "We actually have a very good safety record. It's unfortunate that these people are sick, but there really is no scientific basis for their claims at this point." In a study published by the British government's Health and Safety Executive, the authors concluded that there was no increased risk of miscarriage for women working in semiconductor plants. Chip-manufacturing plants require employees to wear safety suits that cover them head to toe as protection from hazardous chemicals. But Hawes said that the protective gear is better designed to protect the wafers than the workers. While the lawsuits may be difficult to prove, there is no question that the microelectronics industry has grown tremendously during the last few decades. According to the New Scientist article, there are now more than 900 chip-making plants across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and there are plans to build 100 more to service the rapidly expanding, US$150 billion-per-year industry. Environmental advocates fear that such growth could increase environmental hazards. "What we may be seeing is the tip of the iceberg," said Leslie Byster, of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Already we've seen cancer clusters in Scotland, East Fishkill, and now in San Jose. The high-tech industry is one if the most chemically intensive industries." Hawes hopes that the suits against the two manufacturing giants will change safety regulations in the industry. "There's no excuse for having those chemicals in anyone's working environment."