SIA backs year-plus study to assess fab cancer risk

A panel of health, environmental, and occupational experts will conduct a study to determine the potential cancer risks for workers in U.S. semiconductor plants, SIA has announced. The association will select the panel, which will comprise between five and seven members and include experts in toxicology, epidemiology, occupational health, and cancer research.

The independent scientific panel of experts, or SPE as SIA calls it, will be in place this month, says Daven Oswalt, SIA's director of communications. SIA will choose a chairman with expertise in occupational health issues, he adds. The SPE will examine existing data on potential cancer health risks in order to decide whether a more in-depth examination is needed. Oswalt says the study will take 12 to 16 months. The trade group will fund the study, but did not include a budget figure in its late November announcement.

The communications director says the SIA decided to undertake the study as part of its policy to "constantly monitor health and safety issues throughout our industry, and that's why we have one of the best safety records." He insists that the study is not in response to pressure or criticism about the industry's safety record. U.S. Department of Labor statistics consistently place the semiconductor industry "in the top 5%" of all U.S. industries for the fewest number of employee illnesses and injuries, Oswalt points out.

The trade group is aware that some critics have been prodding the industry to conduct such a study in order to counter anecdotal evidence that some fab employees have gotten cancer from their workplaces, Oswalt says. However, he asserts that U.S. chipmakers "certainly do not believe there is credible evidence that there's any increased risk of cancer" from working in microchip cleanrooms.

"You take the initiative so you can aggressively manage potential health issues," Oswalt asserts. He cites an SIA-backed study in 1989 conducted by University of California, Davis, that resulted in the banning of certain ethylene-based glycol ethers. He says the survey was the largest epidemiological study ever performed by private industry. The association's member companies employ approximately 276,000 people. Information: http://www.semichips.org.