Woman reiterates claims on premature baby's death

A young mother who had blamed ST Microelectronics for the death of her premature baby has filed a second reply in court to the company's denials.

Bethany Cassar, 25 and her boyfriend Claude Frendo, 26, challenged STMicroelectronics to produce independent evidence to prove that their baby, Kyle Christian, did not die as a result of Ms Cassar's exposure to melamine at work.

Their son died on November 24, a day after he was born, and a post-mortem examination established the cause of death as neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, bilateral renal cystic dysplasia kidneys and clinical prematurity.

Ms Cassar's lawyers claimed the causes of death were directly linked to her exposure to Melamine at work.

The couple first filed a judicial protest on Tuesday 15 September.

The semiconductor firm strongly denied any responsibility for the death.(see http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090915/local/st-micreoelectronics-strongly-denies-causing-babys-death )

In this reply filed yesterday, the couple asked the company to declare the properties of any chemicals that she came into contact with, when cleaning the industrial machines, including one in particular: Nikalet Ecr.

Besides declaring the properties, Ms Cassar challenged the company to get certification from a qualified independent individual that would declare it is safe to work with Nikalet Ecr while pregnant.

Ms Cassar also asked STMicroelectronics to publish the dates of when protective gear such as respirators was installed for those employees using cleaning sheets and cleaning compounds, as she had none during her time there.

The couple also made reference to legal notice 92/2000 of the Protection of Maternity at Work Places Regulations where it states that "a female worker who becomes pregnant shall inform her employer of her condition as soon as she becomes aware of it".

They said the regulation was not adhered to by the company and they had failed to provide a secure place of work for Ms Cassar during her pregnancy, they said.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Edward Zammit Lewis signed the reply.