Pregnant women working in computer chip fabrication areas showed a 1.4-fold increase in miscarriages, compared to women working in non-fabrication areas, researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine recently reported. The conclusions come from the largest and most comprehensive health study of the nation's 225,000 worker semiconductor industry. The study also showed that the odds of a woman becoming pregnant were reduced for fabrication workers, says principal investigator Dr. Marc B. Schenker, a professor of medicine and chief of the occupational/environmental medicine and epidemiology division. The UC Davis researchers and their collaborators say their findings suggest that exposure to photoresist/developer solvents, including glycol ethers, may be responsible for the higher rate of miscarriage. In the three-year, $3.8 million study, researchers evaluated the health conditions of 15,000 workers from 14 company sites in seven states. The San Jose-based Semiconductor Industry Association funded the multidisciplinary study, but it was designed and conducted independently by the university research team.