Reports: trace carcinogens found in Korean wafer fabs

LONDON – Cancer-inducing chemicals were found in chip making facilities belonging to Samsung, Hynix and Fairchild Semiconductor, according to local reports that cited a South Korean government body.

"We found that cancer-causing substances are present inside the chip factories," Yonhap and Korea Herald reports quoted Park Jung-sun, head of the state-run Korea Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI), as saying as he announced the results of its three-year study of potential cancer risks at chip-manufacturing lines.

The study, conducted between 2009 and 2011 on chip manufacturing lines of Samsung, Hynix and Fairchild Semiconductor, confirmed the presence of benzene, formaldehyde, both linked to leukemia, albeit at below the permitted levels. However, arsenic, a carcinogen linked to lung cancer was present at above the permitted level.

Benzene was found at levels of 0.00038-ppm and 0.00990-ppm in two different chip lines, well below the 1-ppm permitted, the Korea Herald report said. However, arsenic was present in a concentration as high as 0.061 milligram per cubic meter, well above the stipulated limit of 0.01 milligrams per cubic meter, the study said, according to Yonhap.

The findings are sensitive because Samsung has been accused of endangering its workers lives in the past through unsafe working practices.

In 2011 a Samsung-commissioned study found no evidence that workers were more likely to contract cancer as a result of working in its wafer fabs. However, in June of 2011 Samsung was ordered by a court in Seoul to pay compensation to the families of two young employees who died of leukemia. The two women reportedly worked on a wafer cleaning station where benzene had been used. Also in 2011 Samsung, without admitting any liability, said it will provide medical treatment costs for semiconductor and LCD manufacturing workers for up to ten years if they are diagnosed with cancer within three years of retiring from the company.

The OSHRI study was conducted on five wafer-manufacturing lines and four semiconductor assembly lines at Samsung, Hynix Semiconductor, and Fairchild Semiconductor over three years starting in 2009.

The levels of carcinogens found are unlikely to pose cancer risks, but their presence was a cause for concern the report said. "Though the levels are very low, they must be further reduced as much as is technically possible," the Yonhap report quoted Park Jung-sun as saying.


Related links and articles:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/02/06/57/0501000000AEN20120206008900315F.HTML

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120206001239

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