ID :
195074
Thu, 07/14/2011 - 17:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/195074
The shortlink copeid
Samsung finds no link between chip plants, cancer
(2nd LD)(ATTN: CORRECTS firm's location in para 3; ADDS more details in para 5-7, 18-19; RESTRUCTURES)
By Lee Youkyung
YONGIN, South Korea, July 14 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest computer memory chip maker, said Thursday that a study found no link between its chip plants and cancer, but controversy loomed as labor advocates challenged the study's transparency and independence.
The study came on the heels of a court ruling on June 23 that held Samsung responsible for two workers' deaths and ordered a state-run welfare agency to pay compensation to the surviving family members. The agency said it filed an appeal.
After a spate of deaths and illnesses among young semiconductor workers, Samsung commissioned Phoenix, Arizona-based environmental consulting firm Environ International Corp. last year to study the cases of six workers who developed leukemia and other blood-related diseases over the period of time they worked at the electronics maker's chip factories in suburban Seoul.
"We did not find any link between exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and the health conditions of six employees," Fred Boelter, a principal at Environ, told reporters at Samsung's Giheung plant in Yongin, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul.
The six are the same employees who were embroiled in legal battles with Samsung and the welfare agency. They sought compensation from the agency and lodged lawsuits last year when it denied their requests. Four of them died.
In the same June 23 ruling, the Seoul Administrative Court rejected claims by three plaintiffs who said working environments caused their diseases. One dropped the case.
Environ said it found three agents -- formaldehyde, ionizing radiation and trichloroethylene -- that are classified as carcinogens at Samsung's three semiconductor lines.
Four of the employees did not work with these carcinogens while two had been exposed to these agents below the level associated with increased risks, it concluded.
The study was part of the chipmaker's efforts to quell public concerns about its working environments. Samsung said 26 current and former employees were diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma and 10 of them died. Supporters of Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry (SHARP) found at least 36 Samsung employees who developed cancer, and 15 of them died.
Samsung has more than 30,000 employees in its semiconductor division, including those who are not working on the production lines.
Samsung and Environ said their study was "scientific and objective," but supporters of the workers who died of cancer and even overseas investors equally questioned the study's transparency and independence.
Samsung and Environ refused to disclose the resulting data and the full report, citing confidentiality. They also declined to reveal how much Samsung paid the consulting firm over the year the study was conducted.
"If you are saying that your work is based on a scientific process, it should be opened to the public," Paek Domyung, dean of the graduate school of public health at Seoul National University, told Environ officials. "There is no data here, just your conclusions."
In response to public pressure, Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's semiconductor and display division, said he would consider making the report public.
The study, which was "conducted on the day that Samsung picked, with Samsung's data and Samsung people, lost its independence," said Hwang Sang-gi, the father of Hwang Yu-mi, one of the two deceased workers who won in the court's ruling.
"We cannot assess workers' past exposure to chemicals with what they presented today," said Gong Jeong-ok, an occupational health physician who has been following the issue for more than four years.
One of the key points of controversy is whether the carcinogen benzene was present at the workplace. Environ said it did not detect the presence of benzene in its examination, but activists at SHARP said a previous study in 2009 that Paek led showed the toxin was present.
Samsung said it cannot accept the result of the study led by Paek's team.
"I was also surprised at the result," Kwon said. "We cannot acknowledge even a tiny amount (of benzene) because other investigations found none."
Netherlands-based pension fund APG, a vocal critic of Samsung's management of labor issues, expressed worries over the Korean company's handling of the issue.
"What the company calls an independent third-party investigation is in fact neither independent nor transparent," it said in a newsletter published at the end of 2010. "The environmental consultant was hired and is being paid for by Samsung."
Separately, Samsung's Kwon said the company will introduce a set of new measures to improve health and safety conditions and provide better care for its employees.
ylee@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Lee Youkyung
YONGIN, South Korea, July 14 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest computer memory chip maker, said Thursday that a study found no link between its chip plants and cancer, but controversy loomed as labor advocates challenged the study's transparency and independence.
The study came on the heels of a court ruling on June 23 that held Samsung responsible for two workers' deaths and ordered a state-run welfare agency to pay compensation to the surviving family members. The agency said it filed an appeal.
After a spate of deaths and illnesses among young semiconductor workers, Samsung commissioned Phoenix, Arizona-based environmental consulting firm Environ International Corp. last year to study the cases of six workers who developed leukemia and other blood-related diseases over the period of time they worked at the electronics maker's chip factories in suburban Seoul.
"We did not find any link between exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and the health conditions of six employees," Fred Boelter, a principal at Environ, told reporters at Samsung's Giheung plant in Yongin, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul.
The six are the same employees who were embroiled in legal battles with Samsung and the welfare agency. They sought compensation from the agency and lodged lawsuits last year when it denied their requests. Four of them died.
In the same June 23 ruling, the Seoul Administrative Court rejected claims by three plaintiffs who said working environments caused their diseases. One dropped the case.
Environ said it found three agents -- formaldehyde, ionizing radiation and trichloroethylene -- that are classified as carcinogens at Samsung's three semiconductor lines.
Four of the employees did not work with these carcinogens while two had been exposed to these agents below the level associated with increased risks, it concluded.
The study was part of the chipmaker's efforts to quell public concerns about its working environments. Samsung said 26 current and former employees were diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma and 10 of them died. Supporters of Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry (SHARP) found at least 36 Samsung employees who developed cancer, and 15 of them died.
Samsung has more than 30,000 employees in its semiconductor division, including those who are not working on the production lines.
Samsung and Environ said their study was "scientific and objective," but supporters of the workers who died of cancer and even overseas investors equally questioned the study's transparency and independence.
Samsung and Environ refused to disclose the resulting data and the full report, citing confidentiality. They also declined to reveal how much Samsung paid the consulting firm over the year the study was conducted.
"If you are saying that your work is based on a scientific process, it should be opened to the public," Paek Domyung, dean of the graduate school of public health at Seoul National University, told Environ officials. "There is no data here, just your conclusions."
In response to public pressure, Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's semiconductor and display division, said he would consider making the report public.
The study, which was "conducted on the day that Samsung picked, with Samsung's data and Samsung people, lost its independence," said Hwang Sang-gi, the father of Hwang Yu-mi, one of the two deceased workers who won in the court's ruling.
"We cannot assess workers' past exposure to chemicals with what they presented today," said Gong Jeong-ok, an occupational health physician who has been following the issue for more than four years.
One of the key points of controversy is whether the carcinogen benzene was present at the workplace. Environ said it did not detect the presence of benzene in its examination, but activists at SHARP said a previous study in 2009 that Paek led showed the toxin was present.
Samsung said it cannot accept the result of the study led by Paek's team.
"I was also surprised at the result," Kwon said. "We cannot acknowledge even a tiny amount (of benzene) because other investigations found none."
Netherlands-based pension fund APG, a vocal critic of Samsung's management of labor issues, expressed worries over the Korean company's handling of the issue.
"What the company calls an independent third-party investigation is in fact neither independent nor transparent," it said in a newsletter published at the end of 2010. "The environmental consultant was hired and is being paid for by Samsung."
Separately, Samsung's Kwon said the company will introduce a set of new measures to improve health and safety conditions and provide better care for its employees.
ylee@yna.co.kr
(END)
