-
at IBM they have higher-than-expected brain
cancer
,
nonmelanoma
skin cancers,
and leukemias
rates. IBM is currently facing litigation from over 250 previous employees.
The November issue of Clinics
in Occupational and Environmental Medicine that was to publish Clapp's
results was cancelled after participants boycotted the journal after its
publisher, Elsevier, said it would not publish the study because the journal
only published reviews. Clapp's method—which used the proportionate cancer
mortality ratio (PCMR)—was a way of controlling for the healthy worker
effect : his dataset spanned from 1969 to 2001 and looked at all of IBM's
manufacturing locations. He found an excess of brain cancer. IBM commissioned
their own study in 2000, which examined mortality and cancer rates at microprocessor
manufacturing facilities in East Fishkill, NY, Burlington, Vt., and San
Jose, Calf. The study, led by Elizabeth Delzell of the University of Alabama
at Birmingham, included > 126,000 employees who worked at the locations
from 1965 to 1999. IBM's study used state statistics from the entire populations
of California and New York, including nonworking and sick people, as controls.
The study found that overall mortality among IBMers at the study locations
was 35% lower than the comparison populations. Cancer among IBM employees
was 16% lower. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2001,
the semiconductor industry had nearly four times as many work-loss injuries
and illnesses that involved chemical exposure compared with all manufacturing
industries. People working with semiconductors are exposed to known carcinogens,
like benzene and trichloroethylene
(TCE). -
former workers at National Semiconductor
in the United Kingdom had a higher-than-average rate of certain cancers—specifically,
lung cancer,
gastric cancer,
and breast cancer
in women, and brain cancer
in men. The workers' group, called Phase Two, said in a press release
last week that they recently learned that the company contracted by the
UK government to conduct the study, the Scotland-based Institute
of Occupational Medicine (IOM), has at least one employee who has done
some consulting work at a UK branch of National Semiconductor, based in
California.
-
brain cancer
(RR = 2; 7 out of 100,000 vs. 3.5 out of any 100,000)
-
colon cancer
(RR = 2; 30 out of 100,000 vs. 16.3 out of 100,000)
-
kidney cancer
-
bladder cancer
-
leukemias
- hazardous agents associated with welding processes are
- acetylene
- carbon monoxide
- oxides of nitrogen
- ozone
-
phosgene
- tungsten
- arsenic
- beryllium
- cadmium
- chromium
- cobalt
- copper
- iron
- lead
- manganese
- nickel
- silver
- tin
- zinc
- all welding processes involve the potential hazards for inhalation exposures that may lead to acute or chronic respiratory diseases. According to literature described earlier it has been suggested that welding fumes cause
- lung function impairment
- obstructive and restrictive lung disease
-
cough
-
dyspnea
-
rhinitis
-
asthma
-
pneumonitis
-
pneumoconiosis
- carcinoma of the lungs
- eye irritation
-
photokeratitis
-
cataract
- skin irritation
-
erythema
-
pterygium
-
nonmelanoma
skin cancers
-
melanoma
-
reduced sperm count, motility and infertility
