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Top blue chip companies refuse to fund cancer risk study

4th February 2009

Britain’s top component companies are refusing to spend less than a cost of a couple of pints of lager per employee for new research that could highlight the cancer risks in their industry.

The UK electronics industry, the world’s fifth largest with 25,000 employees, is defying the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and government who have asked the top computer component companies to chip in to pay for the £600,000 report over four years.

Unite, the UK’s largest union, which has already pledged £60,000 towards the study, calculates that it would cost the industry £6 a year for each employee to fund the potentially life saving research.

Unite is launching a campaign to force major IT employers to fund a study, following evidence from the United States where a study at IBM found 'significantly greater' cancer deaths than expected compared to the general population.

Employers have refused to recognise such a study is necessary as they say there is insufficient evidence.

Peter Skyte, Unite national officer said: “The UK electronics industry is worth £23 billion a year, yet these highly profitable companies are refusing to fund a study despite troubling evidence showing there could be an increased risk of cancer to their staff. The industry is putting costs before people’s lives and health – just to save the price of a couple of pints of lager per employee.”

Evidence from three separate studies has shown higher than average rates of certain cancers. Unite is demanding further research so that if there are increased risks, steps can be taken to remove those risks.

The HSE has recently announced a series of audits - starting next month - of the semiconductor industry’s arrangements to control known hazardous substances following pressure from Unite.

ENDS

For more information contact: Unite press officer, Liane Groves 07793 661 657 or Unite national officer, Peter Skyte 07768 931302

Notes to editors:

• The HSE estimates a study lasting four years would cost £600,000. If 10 of the largest UK semiconductor companies agreed to fund this research it would cost them each around £15,000 pa for four years - barely the cost of a company car. 
• Workers in the semiconductor, chip and computer sectors are exposed to chemicals, metals (especially arsenic, nickel and chromium), and electro magnetic fields such as ultraviolet light, radiofrequency and x-ray radiation.
• There are two current studies into cancer risks in the semiconductor industry, a further US study and a study based in Scotland. Unite has serious misgivings about both studies. The US study is being conducted in non-union sites, without any involvement of worker representatives. The Scottish study is based on a small number of workers and in only one workplace and will not be comprehensive.

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