Health and Safety Executive Inspection of U.K. Semiconductor Manufacturers

women in the Third World, provide loans that will not enslave (unlike traditional sources), and offer advice about production and esthetic design, as well as efficient marketing of their products. Americans shopping for clothing were enabled to express their abhorence of unsafe and sweated home industries by looking for the small sewn~in tab of the Garment Makers' Union, and when buYing stationery those with good near vision could look for the print union logo. Standards for the quality, performance, and safety of materials and products, set by governments, standard setting bodies, .and trade associations, constituted no more than. a Tower of Babel, and could be used to obtain an advantage over· competitors. Their replacement by international standards for~the performance and safety of products does away with earlier sharp practice, so that even the World Trade Organization (WTO), the repository of Adam Smith economics ideology, ';V0uld not hold standard setting to :constitute a barrier to trade. Famously, the WTO even conceded that Europe might ban the import and use of asbestos and, asbestos products on health and safety grounds; in the face of a major exporter appealing on the grounds of free trade .• Founded in League of Nations days, as part of making the world fit for heroes to live in, because its member states were not required to abide by its minimalist codes and it was never provided with the facilities to monitor the performances of those countries that were signatory, the influence of the International

empower rural craftsmen and women in the Third World, provide loans that will not enslave (unlike traditional sources), and offer advice about production and esthetic design, as well as efficient marketing of their products.
Americans shopping for clothing were enabled to express their abhorence of unsafe and sweated home industries by looking for the small sewn~in tab of the Garment Makers' Union, and when buYing stationery those with good near vision could look for the print union logo.
Standards for the quality, performance, and safety of materials and products, set by governments, standard setting bodies, .and trade associations, constituted no more than. a Tower of Babel, and could be used to obtain an advantage over· competitors. Their replace-ment by international standards for~the performance and safety of products does away with earlier sharp practice, so that even the World Trade Organization (WTO), the repository of Adam Smith economics ideology, ';V0uld not hold standard setting to :constitute a barrier to trade. Famously, the WTO even conceded that Europe might ban the import and use of asbestos and, asbestos products on health and safety grounds; in the face of a major exporter appealing on the grounds of free trade .• Founded in League of Nations days, as part of making the world fit for heroes to live in, because its member states were not required to abide by its minimalist codes and it was never provided with the facilities to monitor the performances of those countries that were signatory, the influence of the International

Letters
Labour Organization (ILO) has been seriously limited. If there were. a will in the' United Nations, the ILO could be revived and provided with the means to implement its basic mandate.The representation of industry and labour on its Board, would, subjectto its being given the authority and adequate facilities, create a suitable body for making the value judgements. involved in developing marks for identifying ethical products manufactured ethi-cally~and for policing them.

Health and Safety Executive Inspection of U.K. Semiconductor Manufacturers
To the Editors-Your article "Health and Safety Executive Inspection of U.K Semiconductor Manufacturers" revisits criticisms previously made about HSE's study of spontaneous abortions in this industry. These criticisms have already been refuted in a letter published in your Journa1. 1 The recent article by.Watterson et al. 2 continues to misrepresent the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) commitment to the' effective management of risks. Our commitment is strong and constant, demonstrated day after day by our enforcemen t action and by our investment in world-class science and technological expertise. The facts are as follows.

In
December 2001, HSE reported following a study that there was a possibility of a workrelated cause of cancer at National Semiconductors (NSUK), Greenock. This study was designed to establish whether there was evi-, dence of an excess of cancer and was done to a rigorous scientific standard. It was overseen by an expert independent scientific committee, and has been published in the peer-reviewed literature. 3 What we found was inconclusive but left some cause for concern. We are therefore pursuing further epidemiological investigations, not only at that plant, but also across the semiconductor industry in Great Britain.
We also needed to know the standard of occupational health control in the rest of the British semiconductor industry. That is why HSE carried out a programme of inspections to check current conditions, industry wide. This industry-wide investigation, covered a sampIe of the activities based on the concerns about carcinogens in the industry.
This sample approach allowed HSE inspectors to consider the selected issues in depth. It found that there were issues that had to be tackled at a number of plants, and so we took welljudged enforcement action.
Occupational health will be a major priority in our new strategy "A Strategy for Workplace Health and Safety in Great Britain to 2010 nd Beyond" which will be pubhshed shortly .. We will be focusing on the areas where we are best placed to reduce workplace ill health.
Occupational cancer demands to be taken seriously because of the considerable human suffering and distress it causes workers and their famifies.
HSE is not reducing the number of inspectors. We are developing ways of better targeting the use of inspectors by using trained non~. inspector staff. That will allow trained inspectors more· time to address more complex issues.