Pubdate: Tue, 8 June 1999 Source: Examiner, The (Ireland) Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 1999 Contact: http://www.examiner.ie/ Section: Opinion A CONCERN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH THE cause of a mystery illness at a Waterford cigar plant, owned by Imperial Tobacco, should not only be of concern to workers at the plant, but also to the general public, especially with the disclosure that there was a frightening level of mysterious birth defects and miscarriages among women who worked in the Irish tobacco industry in the 1980s. Some 50 workers at Cadena Ireland Ltd. were laid off in April after succumbing to a mysterious illness, the symptoms of which included stomach cramps, vomiting, headaches and skin irritation. In the 1980s there was an unusually high level of miscarriages among the 30 women working at the plant. More than a dozen of them gave birth to children with serious defects such as heart disease, lack of kidneys and brain damage. Female workers in the former Kofnar tobacco plant in Roscommon also reported alarmingly high levels of miscarriages. It is now known that two toxins used in pesticides sprayed on tobacco leaves were the cause of problems for pregnant women. American scientists believe that dangerous toxins were also the likely cause of the recent health problems. It would seem on this evidence that handling tobacco can be as hazardous to health as smoking it. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake