Cancer Rates 5 Times Higher Than Normal

More than 70 cancer deaths at the National Semiconductor plant in Greenock, Scotland, could be the tip of the iceberg, health experts have warned.

Experts have identified several types of cancer, including brain and breast tumours, which are four to five times higher than normal.

Jim McCourt of Phase Two, a support group for Nat Semi workers, said: "This could be potentially the tip of the iceberg. Former employees and their survivors should be very concerned."

An open letter signed by an international team of medical experts says they are worried about proposed new research into the factory. The experts warn that the government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is carrying out the investigation, is coming under "undue political pressure to obtain equivocal or negative results."

The planned follow-up study to a 2001 report is already a year behind schedule and has yet to start.

Professor Andrew Watterson of the University of Stirling is one of the six international experts who signed the letter, complaining about a plan to scale down the scope of the investigation to just 200 out of thousands of potentially affected workers.

He said big studies are better because they pick up any adverse health effects of chemicals. "Employees should be concerned we won't apparently see large, preferably international studies, of the industry in the foreseeable future," he said: "Recent US studies indicate continued cause for concern about the industry and have not given it a clean bill of health. Small studies may show no problem when there may be a problem and lead to complacency or inaction."

Professor Watterson added: "We have seriously under-estimated or downplayed the contribution that work-caused and work-related health plays in Scotland. If we don't look, we won't find. If we don't look properly, then we may miss serious occupational health problems."

Source: Risks

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