Cancer could be linked to breathing clean air

BREATHING clean, purified air would for most people conjure up the image of living in a healthy environment.

However, clean-air rooms, used in the electronics industry, could be doing workers more harm than good and putting them at a greater risk of developing cancer.

Now a Scots physicist, Keith Black - head of physics at George Watson's College in Edinburgh, has called for more investigation into the possible links between clean-air rooms and radiation-induced cancer. Previous studies linking cancer with the electronics industry have centred on the chemicals which workers come into contact with, but Black has been looking at radon, a radioactive gas which is part of the air we all breathe. "When atmospheric radon decays, it becomes radioactive particles," explained Black. "The particles adhere to dust in normal air, but what happens to them when there is no dust. Clean-air rooms are set up to protect chips from dust, sweat and skin particles. But Black has discovered that when normal air is filtered, the filter becomes radioactive. However, he says that when air from a clean room is filtered, radioactivity levels in the filter remain the same as for normal background levels. "If there is no dust, there is nothing for the radon particles to adhere to, they go straight through the filter," says Black. "If you breathe in the radioactive particles they could adhere to tissue inside the nose, sinuses and lungs." The theory was raised at a Glasgow conference looking at health hazards in the electronics industry. Black said: "I don't know whether the questions I am bring up constitute real hazards or if they are just theoretical, but drawing people's attention to it could be a step forward. Glasgow University's Dr Charles Woolfson, secretary of the Scottish Occupational Health and Safety Research network, which sponsored the Glasgow seminar, said: "The theory could be something worth exploring." Campaign group Phase II - People for Health and Safety in Electronics - set up by former and current employees of National Semi-conductor in Greenock where 70 people developed cancer, said they hoped Black's theory would be included in studies of cancer clusters in the electronics industry. Jim McCourt, co-ordinator of Phase II, said: "Anything which will make these rooms safer is welcomed. "We hope this will be looked at by both the industry and the Health and Safety Executive who are responsible for monitoring the industry." Scientist Daryl Dickson of the National Radiological Protection Board, said the theory would be very difficult to prove. He said: "We already know that radon causes cancer, but I think it is a big jump to say there is a greater risk from cancer if radon stays in the body. There is a risk on both sides and I would doubt if, as a research project, there would be any practical significance." A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive said they would consider any new evidence which could form part of a proposed study into cancer links and the electronics industry.

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