The semiconductor industry often bills itself as one of the cleanest manufacturing sectors in the world.

After all, GlobalFoundries, which is building a $4.6 billion computer chip factory in the middle of an old logging forest in Saratoga County, claims that it is building a "green fab," designed to protect both the environment and the people who will work in and live near the factory, which uses some of the most dangerous chemicals known to man.

But the fears of residents in a small village in New Mexico offer a cautionary tale about how living in the shadow of a chip fab can put a real health scare into a community.

Located just north of Albuquerque, N.M., Corrales is a quaint village of about 7,300 residents that has dozens of eclectic shops, restaurants and art galleries.

Just to the west, in Rio Rancho, sits a massive computer chip manufacturing operation owned by Intel Corp., one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world.

Intel has been a huge business success for New Mexico since it established operations there in the 1980s. The Rio Rancho site, which includes two fabs with more than 4 million square feet of manufacturing and office space, is the single largest private-sector employer in the Albuquerque area, with more than 5,000 workers.

But some residents also believe the factories are making them sick.

Locals have complained of bad odors emanating from the fabs and report disturbing symptoms such as headaches and coughing, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and even seizures, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta, which has studied possible health impacts of the site.

And some believe a chemical used in the factories -- hexamethyldisilazane -- is giving people a fatal lung disease called pulmonary fibrosis after it is burned by thermal oxidizers and released into the air.

"It turns into crystalline silica," says Barbara Rockwell, a resident of nearby Placitas who wrote a book about the environmental impact of the Intel plant titled "Boiling Frogs: Intel vs. The Village."

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration classifies crystalline silica as a carcinogen that can scar lung tissue when breathed, causing chronic and acute lung disease that can lead to shortness of breath, weakness, weight loss and death.

Rockwell and others have counted eight cases of pulmonary fibrosis in Corrales they claim were caused by crystalline silica emissions from the Intel plants. Half of those diagnosed with the disease have already died, including a former village councilman who blamed Intel for the disease.

"It kills you within a couple of years," Rockwell said.

According to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis in Culver City, Calif., there is no cure for pulmonary fibrosis, and 40,000 people die from the disease each year.

GlobalFoundries will use hexamethyldisilazane in its Saratoga County fab in Malta. Hexamethyldisilazane is a silicon-based chemical that is commonly used in the lithography process in which circuits are etched onto the 12-inch silicon wafers that are later made into hundreds of computer chips.

GlobalFoundries spokesman Travis Bullard says the Malta factory, known as Fab 8, will use less hexamethyldisilazane than other manufacturers in the industry. And the company will use oxidizers and advanced emission controls that include a secondary emission removal process, all of which have been approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

"As part of the design, construction and operations of Fab 8, we are committed to working closely with the community to ensure the highest standards of environmental protection," Bullard said.

In 2004, community groups in New Mexico petitioned the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to study the emissions at Intel in Rio Rancho. After five years of studies, no serious public health dangers were uncovered, although a draft report published last year did encourage Intel to further reduce its air emissions at the site.

The report cast serious doubt on whether Intel's thermal oxidizers actually spew out crystalline silica, since the stacks operate at 1,385 degrees Fahrenheit on average, which is about 100 degrees lower than is required to make the dangerous material.

"We strongly believe that Intel's air emissions are not causing adverse health effects," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. "We will continue to work with the community and government agencies to monitor odor complaints and other concerns and seek mutually agreeable solutions."

The Corrales Comment, a community newspaper that is published twice a month, has been chronicling the health concerns of the Intel site for years.

Jeff Radford, editor and publisher of the Comment, has quoted scientific experts in his stories who believe that Intel's incinerators are probably burning hot enough to produce crystalline silica. He says new incinerators Intel is installing will burn even hotter, possibly increasing the risk.

In a telephone interview, Radford, a former Associated Press editor, said the potential health hazards of the Intel operations are magnified in Corrales because of a combination of topography and the shear scale of the operation. Corrales, which borders Rio Rancho, sits immediately downwind of the Intel plants in a valley that leads down to the Rio Grande.

"The plant is built very close to the neighborhoods," Radford said. "The plant is huge. The property is a mile long."

Radford himself says he has experienced some of the physical symptoms that critics say are caused by Intel's fabs. On more than one occasion when he was near one of the plant's cooling towers, his throat contracted in spasms. He says he feels certain it was from chemical waste from the plant.

"My windpipe would just seize up," he said. "The first time it happened, it just scared the hell out of me."

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.