SAN JOSE, Calif. - Former IBM employees who developed rare cancers at relatively young ages have a hearing in a San Jose courtroom Friday to determine whether a lawsuit they filed against the technology giant in 1998 finally can go forward. þþþThe group, which includes family members, alleges that Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM knowingly exposed workers to cancer-causing chemicals in its semiconductor factories, and lied to them about the health risks. Their lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. þþþIBM contends the case has no merit and is seeking a dismissal. þþþIf Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Robert Baines disagrees with the company, a jury could begin hearing the allegations against Big Blue and its chemical suppliers, including Dupont, Union Carbide, Shell Oil and Eastman Kodak, next month. It's the first of more than 200 lawsuits filed against IBM from workers in Silicon Valley, New York and Minnesota. þþþThe semiconductor industry and thousands of Americans who have worked in chip plants are watching anxiously. Although most microchip factories have dramatically improved safety in dust-free ÿclean rooms,ÿ companies still operate factories known as ÿfabsÿ in several states and overseas. þþþÿThis is by far the most significant set of cases in the electronics industry,ÿ said Ted Smith, executive director of the San Jose-based Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. þþþÿThe industry has certainly gotten rid of a few of the worst chemicals and made industrial hygiene changes that somewhat reduce exposure to workers. But they still use enormous numbers of very hazardous chemicals, and there are still thousands of people around the world exposed to them.ÿ þþþThe IBM lawsuit has fixated scientists who have long debated the existence of ÿdisease clusters.ÿ Some insist exposure to toxins leads to group outbreaks. Others trash the cluster concept as ÿjunk science.ÿ þþþMovies such as ÿErin Brockovichÿ and ÿA Civil Actionÿ have expanded an esoteric debate among epidemiologists and statisticians into a heated public health issue. Because of the threat of negative publicity and heart-wrenching anecdotes, many companies settle out of court, sometimes for hundreds of millions of dollars. þþþIBM settled a lawsuit in 2001 by two former employees who alleged that exposure to chemicals caused birth defects in their son. But it has refused to settle the San Jose case. As a result, hundreds of court documents detailing human misery and allegations of corporate secrecy have been made public. þþþAccording to court files, hundreds of IBM workers were struck with relatively rare forms of cancer in their 30s, 40s and 50s. They often contracted lymph, blood, breast and brain cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia and the very rare multiple myeloma. þþþThe lawsuit could hinge on a ÿcorporate mortality fileÿ IBM used to document the deaths of 30,000 employees from 1969 to 2000. þþþIBM says the file helped provide death benefits for surviving spouses and contains little more than death certificates. þþþÿThere is no way with any kind of technical or scientific validity you can look at a list like that and keen from it a cluster,ÿ said IBM spokesman Bill O'Leary. ÿIf these people got cancer, was it because they were in the clean room or because they were in a group with a higher incidence of smoking?ÿ þþþStill, the file has ignited emotions in Silicon Valley. þþþAnother judge who heard depositions in the case on Aug. 8, John A. Flaherty, warned ÿthere will be hell to payÿ if IBM doesn't hand over all its documentation on deceased and sick workers. According to court documents, IBM failed to do this during a four-month discovery period in 2002. þþþÿI can't think of sanctions severe enough,ÿ Flaherty warned. ÿDisbarment is just the first thing that comes to mind. Castration is another.ÿ þþ þþþþThe file of employee deaths was analyzed for plaintiffs by Dr. Richard Clapp, a Boston University epidemiologist who specializes in the effects of toxic chemicals. þþClapp, who also consults for the nonprofit Tellus Institute, found a ÿsignificantly elevatedÿ number of cancer deaths among young workers. Clapp said IBM could have detected the trend as early as 1975 in men, 1985 in women. þþIBM workers were allegedly exposed to trichloroethylene, cadmium, toluene, benzene and arsenic. But experts say it's almost impossible to connect exposure to outbreaks. þþMany epidemiologists say cancer clusters could show up in almost any demographic. Almost 15 million new cases of cancer have been diagnosed since 1990, according to the Cancer Information Service, often occurring by coincidence within the same family or neighborhood. þþComplicating factors — whether the group contained smokers, or whether members were genetically predisposed to cancer — blur causality, according to Dr. Alan Bender, a leading skeptic of claims that the disease can be traced to a single cause. þþBender, section chief of chronic disease and environmental epidemiology at the Minnesota Department of Health, called Clapp's analysis ÿa quintessential example that statistics don't mean a damn thing.ÿ þþBender said he could probably find another random group of Californians with elevated rates of the rare diseases that sickened IBM workers. þþÿI can go into any church, neighborhood or work force, and I can poll them and you can find a cancer cluster,ÿ said Bender, who has no affiliation with IBM. ÿRarity has nothing to do with causality.ÿ þþþþþ
Source: Yahoo News
