Child Birth Defects May be Related to Parent's Clean Room Work Solvent Exposure during the Chip Manufacturing Process.

Workers who worked in semiconductor fabrication rooms from 1986 through the mid-1990s are potentially at risk for a higher incidence of birth defects from exposure to solvents. If your child has a birth defect, it may be linked to exposure by you or your spouse in a semiconductor fabrication room. Your child, if under 18 years old, may still have legal rights for their injuries. Please contact us for a free consultation on your child's case.

The semiconductor industry used numerous toxic chemicals to manufacture components that make up a computer, including hard drives, disk drives, circuit boards, video display adapters, and silicon chips, the basic building blocks of computer devices. The toxic materials needed to make the silicon chips manufactured are voluminous and include highly corrosive hydrochloric acid; metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead; volatile solvents such as methyl chloroform, toluene, benzene, acetone, and trichloroethylene; and toxic gases such as arsine. Many of these chemicals are known to cause birth defects.

"This is a forgotten group of workers," says Dr. Joseph LaDou, director of the International Center for Occupational Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, who has studied the industry ever since large-scale semiconductor manufacturing began in the 1970s. In the United States, nearly 300,000 people work in semiconductor plants; about one-quarter perform jobs that put them in routine contact with the toxic chemicals that are used to produce chips. Worldwide, the total number of semiconductor workers is estimated at more than 1 million.

The step in the manufacturing process that results in exposure to solvents is the creation of the detailed pattern on the silicone layers. The detailed patterns are created on the layers of silicon using a technique called photolithography. Photolithography involves applying photoresist over the silicon. The unexposed silicone is washed away using solvents. Often the solvent contains harmful substances and clean room workers involved in photolithography may be harmed by inhalation and exposure.

Risk Factors

Anyone who worked in a clean room or semiconductor plant location where solvents (primarily photoresist). The longer the time spent in the clean room the greater the risk, however short term exposure can be cause for concern were levels of solvents were significantly greater.

Spray Coaters.

Spin Coaters.

Individuals who worked with chemicals or solvents such as Photoresist.

Individuals who worked with metals such as arsenic or arsine.

Individuals who worked with toxic gases.

Individuals who worked in other capacities in semiconductor fabrication but handled or used large quantities of solvents.

Birth Defects From Exposure Semiconductor Chip Manufacturing Solvents

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, pregnant women who are exposed in their jobs to organic solvents such as those used in the computer chip industry have 13-times greater risk of major malformations in their babies, and an increased risk for miscarriages, than women who are not exposed to solvents.

Factors in determining the connection between exposure and the birth defect include whether or not the birth defect or injury is associated in the medical and scientific literature with the chemicals contained in the solvent products. There are many epidemiological studies indicating links with different types of injury.

Other factors to consider are whether a temporal relationship between the exposure and the injury exists, the duration and "dose" of exposure and whether other children were injured. For example: if the mother was pregnant while working in the clean room, had a miscarriage while working in the clean room, father had reproductive health problems, children and siblings with birth defects.

The industry began phasing out use of glycol ethers in the mid-1990s. But many other chemicals linked to reproductive health problems, including xylene, trichloroethylene, phenols, and acetone, remain in use. In 1991, a Canadian study of pregnant women exposed to workplace solvents similar to those used in clean rooms found that 13 out of 125 had given birth to children with major congenital malformations, compared to only 1 out of 125 in jobs involving no solvents.

The industry's high rate of reproductive health problems is particularly alarming, researchers say, because semiconductor manufacturing has increasingly become women's work. Wages in the industry are relatively low (in 2000, median hourly pay for US workers was $12), but large companies like IBM offer good benefits and 12-hour shifts that are attractive for workers with families.

Types of Birth Defects associated with computer chip solvents:

Cleft Lip and Palate

Hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus is an abnormal build up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain that causes ventricles to enlarge and the pressure inside the head to increase. Hydrocephalus occurs when there is an imbalance in the amount of CSF being produced and absorbed.

Neural Tube Defects

Neural tube defects are serious birth defects which involve incomplete development of the brain, spinal cord and/or the protective coverings of these organs. There are three types of NTDs - anencephaly, encephalocele, and spina bifida.

Spina bifida: A birth defect of the spinal column (backbone) that is sometimes called "cleft or open spine". Spina bifida can range from a mild defect that causes no problems to a serious condition involving muscle paralysis, loss of feeling, infection and loss of bowel and bladder control. 70-90% of children born with the more severe types of spina bifida will also have hydrocephalus, a build up of fluid in the brain. Hydrocephalus is controlled by surgically implanting a drain or "shunt" to relieve the fluid pressure on the brain.

Gastroschisis

Gastroschisis is an abdominal wall defect where all or parts of the small intestine and other internal organs are on the outside of the abdomen. The umbilical cord is usually attached to the abdominal wall to the left of the defect. Other problems include a small abdominal cavity and the absence of a protective sac covering the exposed organs.

Heart Defects

Semiconductor Chip Manufacturing Workers Injured by Solvents may have Legal Claims

If you were a pregnant woman; or man who worked in a clean room in a computer or semiconductor chip plant and used or were exposed to solvents such as photoresist, gases or metals including arsenic or other hazardous chemicals and you have had a child born with certain birth defects, your child may have legal rights against the manufacturer of these solvents as well as against your employer. Please protect your child's rights and contact us for a free consultation.