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Time - Man of the Year
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Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 27HEALTH & SCIENCEChemical Caution
Miscarriages are linked to two solvents used on microchips
The hope at IBM was that the company would put to rest some
charges, long voiced by occupational-safety groups, that work in
a semiconductor plant is dangerous. But preliminary results of
a study by Johns Hopkins researchers, commissioned by the
computer giant, show that women exposed to two chemicals
employed in making silicon chips have a much higher risk of
suffering miscarriages. Among 30 women who handled chemicals at
IBM plants in New York and Vermont from 1980 to 1989, the
miscarriage rate was 33%, more than double that of women who had
no contact with the chemicals diethylene glycol dimethyl ether
and ethylene glycol monoethyl ether acetate. The solvents are
used to etch away material deposited on silicon wafers and are
also used in the aerospace and printing industries. IBM has
alerted its workers, the silicon industry and the Environmental
Protection Agency to the study findings. By law, companies
cannot exclude women from jobs on the grounds of danger to their
reproductive ability. IBM is offering workers the choice of
transferring to other areas and says it hopes to eventually
phase out use of the chemicals entirely.