I was recently an invited speaker at a conference on health and human rights at Seoul National University in South Korea. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the School of Public Health and I was asked to give a keynote address on the “right to know”.  It’s an important issue in Seoul because a number of young workers at Samsung factories have become ill (some have died) and the company refuses to provide information on hazardous exposures claiming “trade secrets”.  Although community and worker rights to information about dangerous chemicals and processes were won in the United States in the 1980’s, the issue is still a live one:  BP refused to give information to the public on the chemical dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico claiming trade secrets, but EPA (which did get the information) was badgered by the press until it finally released the data.