ST in fresh denial of responsibility for baby's death

ST Microelectronics today again denied that a former employee had lost her premature baby because of contact with chemicals at her place of work, and insisted that the chemicals she had come in contact with were not harmful.

The Kirkop firm was replying to the second judicial protest filed by Bethany Cassar and her partner Claude Frendo.They had claimed the death was caused by exposure to melamine.

"As Bethany Cassar very well knows, in her work-place at the Malta Plant only three cleaning products that have chemical properties are used. These are a cleaning compound in the form of pellets that are commercially known as NIKALET ECR, Cleaning Sheets that bear the commercial name of E-Z CLEAN and a conditioner that has the commercial name of HITACHI CEL RP2," the company said.

"One of the constituents in the cleaning compound known as NIKALET ECR is a melamine resin that has totally different properties to melamine and has no toxic effects.

"The two other products used, that is E-Z Clean and HITACHI CEL RP2 do not contain any melamine resin."

The company said that according to the “Material Safety Data Sheet” issued by the manufacturers of these three products, it did not result that these products could cause any harm to a foetus.

The company noted that Bethany Cassar had declared in “The Times” that her child died as a result of her being exposed to melamine at her work-place, exactly as happened in China where melamine was mixed with milk powder for babies.

"This is certainly not the case in this matter as melamine resin compound is totally different to melamine. At ST Malta, melamine is not used and has never been used," the company said.

It insisted that the Kirkop plant where Bethany Cassar used to work had been certified to conform with all the legal obligations that concerned the health and safety of employees by Bureau Veritas, one of the leading agencies of its kind, in the world.

The company also observed that Ms Cassar had written on the internet that her baby died from polycystic kidney disease and according to the medical diagnosis of the doctors at the Special Care Baby Unit at Mater Dei Hospital, it may have suffered from Potter’s Syndrome. A

"Both polycystic kidney disease and Potter’s Syndrome are two conditions of a genetic or hereditary nature. The terminology used in the Post Mortem Report is consistent to these two conditions," ST Microelectronics said.

"It is absolutely untrue that from the post mortem report it resulted that the child’s death was the result of damage caused by any one of the three cleaning agents used by the company or as a result of chemical properties originating from these products."

It also denied that it had introduced respirators for employees working on mould cleaning after the loss of the child. Ms Cassar was deployed in a “Clean Environment Area”, where the quality of air was far superior to the air breathed at street level because it underwent an air-change of 60 times per hour, as required in the electronics industry, the company said. That periodically, including the area where Bethany Cassar worked.

Air quality tests and employees’ exposure tests were carried out as part of industrial hygiene by an independent UK laboratory which showed that there were no traces of any “airborne chemical risks” in the area where Ms Cassar worked

ST pointed out that besides this laboratory, there was also an independent opinion from an expert, Dr. Michael Whelan PhD who wrote in a comment to timesofmalta.com that: "From my knowledge of polymer science (I have a PhD in the subject), I would tend to support STMicroelectronics. When melamine reacts to form a resin within the first few seconds there is no melamine left”. The melamine reaction is carried out by the manufacturer in Japan. Dr Whelan based his opinion on the renowned scientist Wallace Corothers.

The company said Ms Cassar had not produced any medical or scientific evidence to substantiate her allegations.

While the Protection of Maternity at Work Regulations laid down that workers were to inform their employers as soon as they knew they were pregnant, Bethany Cassar only informed the HR Department after 25 weeks of her pregnancy.

The allegations made by Ms Cassar were completely unfounded in fact and the company said it bore no responsibility for the loss of her child. Nor was she is entitled to any damages.