ST again denies responsibility for loss of baby

STMicroelectronics yesterday 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 have claimed the death was caused by exposure to melamine.

The company said that as Ms Cassar very well knew, in her work-place at the Malta plant only three cleaning products with chemical properties were used.

A constituent 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 company said. The two other products used, 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.

"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," the company added.

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 Ms Cassar had not produced any medical or scientific evidence to substantiate her allegations, which were completely unfounded.