Much Concern but Little Research on Semiconductor Occupational Health Issues

Emerging occupational and environmental issues in the semiconductor industryWe humans have experienced historical lessons on the dangers of introducing new techniques and chemicals expecting benefits, while ignoring unexpected harmful side effects.Examples include untreatable diseases (mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis) caused by asbestos use, human nervous system defects due to pesticides used to increase crop yields, severe health issues due to DDT used to kill malaria-causing mosquitos, and the depletion of the ozone due to Freon use for refrigeration.The semiconductor industry, a microelectronics industry, emerged in the late twentieth century as a brilliant contributor to industrial development, the development of new techniques, increased scientific knowledge, and an advance in human life styles throughout the world.The dark side of this prosperous industry has become apparent in both environmental and occupational health issues since the 1980s in the US and the 1990s in the UK, and in Asian countries including Taiwan, Singapore, and Korea in the 2000s.Environmental health issues occurred in the 1980s in Silicon Valley, where Fairchild and IBM were blamed for contaminating ground water with the organic solvents, 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 1.1-dichloroethane.A similar series of events occurred in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s and in Taiwan in the 2000s that provoked resident outrage.In all cases, the companies initially denied that they had caused environmental pollution, and governments refused to release the results to the public.Occupational health issues have emerged since the 1980s in the Silicon Valley in the US and at National Semiconductor in Greenock in the UK, where retired workers filed lawsuits against IBM, National Semiconductor, and other companies due to increased incidences of cancers, birth defects, and other chronic diseases.The first data that highlighted the unexpected high illness rates in the semiconductor industry, four times higher than that in other industries, were drawn from the Silicon Valley in California in the early 1980s.There were no data on a definitive medical diagnosis, but about 47% of cases were attributed to "systemic poisoning", which indicated a poor work environment (1).