INDUSTRY

The Associated Press in MADRID, Spain is reporting that Spanish authorities are investigating possible links between a supercomputer housing much of the country's police data and the cancer deaths of six employees who worked near the machine, a police union said Wednesday. Six other workers at the El Escorial Data Processing Center outside Madrid, which is home to the National Police computer, were also diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2006, according to a report by the Unified Police Union. "The cases involve people who work with computers and other electronic devices, leading the employees of the unit to believe there is a cause-effect relationship between the illnesses and the tasks being performed," the union report said. Thirty of the center's 60 female employees also have been diagnosed with benign uterine tumors, union spokesman Maximiano Correal told The Associated Press. Of the deceased, two were programmers, two were security guards, one was an analyst and another was a maintenance worker, according to police documents. All but two of the cancer cases worked in the building for more than 15 years, according to police. Correal said an added factor could be that the building, a nearly 100-year-old former convent, may not be able to absorb the more than 22,000 volts of electricity emitted by two electrical substations supplying the center. He said the union was also concerned about the potential health hazards of the center's many electronic devices, including satellite antennae and smoke detectors that may be emitting radioactive waves. Three of the deaths occurred this year while the others happened between 1996 and 2003. Three died of lung cancer, two of leukemia and one of cancer of the liver. Some 250 people work at the center. The Interior Ministry, which handles police matters, said it had started an investigation but could not comment on the outcome.