Joe,
There are instances which industry would not publish, especially IBM.
Women workers were given alternative jobs after they developed pregnancy
related problems at one of the plants. More recently, a court case is
being heard in California where some workers claim to have problems
after working at San Jose plants for last > 20 years. Unfortunately
these type of indications have following issues:

   1. Takes long time exposure for symptoms ( since concentrations are
      low) to develop.
   2. May be confounded with other non work exposures like smoking, long
      term medication etc.
   3. May be confounded with your current living environment - for
      example some mexican workers were using  chemical storage
      containers to store drinking water and developed some problems.
   4. I have seen factory workers in India exposed to all kinds of
      hazardous materials and who in later years develop medical
      problems. Major companies provide safe working environment but
      there are smaller ones ( hundreds of thousands) that do not and
      workers pay a heavy price.
   5. Even in US if you complain too much about the working environment,
      you get fired .

So you see it is not a clear cut case where you can prove a specific
chemical from manufacturing to be responsible unless it was something
like a chlorine or ammonia leak that has an immediate visible effect on
human body. The other factor is that some of the symptoms ( like slow
lead poisoning) mimic other ailments causing further confusion even for
medical professionals.

We as technical professionals have to keep this in mind and should not
oppose legislation that in long term  may prove to be of benefit.
It is very hard for manufacturers to admit that their products can cause
harm to public ( cigarette manufacturers continued to deny liability for
decades that cigarettes are harmful). Latest example is the fast food
industry where it has taken 30-40 years for the effects to be visible -
that effect is obesity of school age kids. The industry always claimed
that their food is safe and nutritious. Now the obesity problem is so
obvious, they have started some actions so as to minimize the impact on
their sales.

pratap singh
512-255-6820
www.rampinc.com

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