By Rick Merritt, EE Times
November 25, 2003 (10:59 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031124S0080
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A medical expert drew links between cancer and chemicals widely used in electronics manufacturing in an ongoing civil trial here Monday (Nov. 24). Separately, defense attorneys made their third motion for a mistrial in the three-week-old proceedings in which two former IBM Corp. disk drive workers allege the company withheld information about their chemical exposure.
The mistrial motion came after a sometimes-stormy cross-examination of former nurse at the San Jose plant testified the company had "an unwritten policy" of not reporting chemical exposure as the cause of employee health complaints.
A number of chemicals used at the IBM plant, including an epoxy resin from Shell Oil Co. called Epon, can cause cancer and other illnesses, according to Daniel Teitelbaum, a Denver-based medical toxicologist and occupational medicine specialist.
Teitelbaum was testifying for plaintiffs Alida Hernandez and James Moore, who claim they contracted cancers while working at the Cottle Road plant, mainly in the 1970's and '80's.
Epon contains acetone, isopropyl alcohol and other solvents that have been shown to cause cancer in mice, cause mutations that lead to cancer and cause other short- and long-term skin and breathing disorders, Teitelbaum testified. Workplace exposure to such chemicals is a contributing factor to the onset of cancer, he added.
Teitelbaum suggested that chemical exposure problems range far beyond IBM's disk drive plant to include hundreds of electronic chip and systems manufacturing facilities he has inspected in his 35-year career that includes stints as a consultant for IBM, Intel, Motorola and others. "Epon and other [toxic] resins were used in every process that I saw," he said.
"The [manufacturing] equipment has been designed to protect the product from the worker, but not the worker from the product," he added. Teitelbaum's testimony continues Tuesday (Nov. 25).
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