A group of people that worked at IBM’s East Fishkill chip plant in New York say that chemicals used in the manufacture of chips caused cancer in several of employees, one of whom died, and are taking legal action against Union Carbide Corp, Eastman Kodak Co, J T Baker Chemical Co, and KTI Chemical Corp. The companies’ substances allegedly caused testicular cancer in two men, brain tumors in two women, colon cancer in a 22-year-old woman who died, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in one man, and ulcers in another man. Another group of former IBM Corp employees is going after the US Internal Revenue Service for about $20m in tax refunds, on the grounds that job cuts affecting more than 120,000 employees since 1992 created emotional and physical pain and suffering. IBM’s severance payments meant it avoided personal injury claims and lawsuits, settlements of which are tax-free, so the suit seeks to recover the income tax they had to pay on the payments.
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