[ RadSafe ] Lawsuit Seeks Cancer Tests at Pa. Company

[Sandy Perle]

Not just radiation is targeted!

Lawsuit Seeks Cancer Tests at Pa. Company 
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer 
 
PHILADELPHIA - Thousands of employees at a chemical company should be 
tested for brain tumors because of a cluster of deadly cases among 
workers at a research campus, a retired worker argued in a class-
action lawsuit. 
 
Rohm and Haas Co. conducted its own study in 2004 and found no 
significant links among 15 workers who developed brain tumors at its 
suburban Spring House campus since 1973. All but one of those people 
died. It said Wednesday it is reviewing the deaths.

The attorney who filed the lawsuit, Aaron J. Freiwald, wrote in court 
papers that "there is evidence enough to establish a workplace link 
to these cancers." The lawsuit was filed in state court in 
Philadelphia on Monday on behalf of a retired worker and seeks 
periodic MRIs and neurologic testing for thousands of others. 
Freiwald said his client, William H. Brendley Jr. of Hatboro, does 
not have cancer.

Nearly 6,000 chemists, technicians, office workers and others have 
worked at the campus since it opened in 1963, including about 1,000 
who work there now.

Scientists at the complex work on chemicals used in household and 
industrial products, from shampoos to paints to plastic dashboards.

Freiwald also is pursuing individual negligence lawsuits against Rohm 
and Haas on behalf of two longtime scientists diagnosed with 
glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.

Chemist Barry C. Lange died in 2003 at age 50, two years after he was 
diagnosed with glioblastoma, which afflicted five of the 15 workers 
described in Rohm and Haas' study.

Charles Hsu, 57, who worked under Lange, was diagnosed in 2003 and 
continues to fight the disease. He has sought treatment at a Texas 
cancer center that is not covered by his health care network, the 
lawyer said.

Both men worked on the development of agricultural products such as 
pesticides, earning patents for their work. According to Freiwald, 
the three others who contracted glioblastoma worked near them in 
Spring House. The company has since sold its agricultural unit.

The individual suits allege that Rohm and Haas failed to warn 
employees about potential toxins and carcinogens or train them in 
their proper handling.

Rohm and Haas is currently reviewing the death certificates of former 
Spring House employees, a study expected to be finished in November 
2006, spokesman Syd Havely said Wednesday.

The previous study found 12 employees at the Spring House campus 
suffered malignant brain cancers and three had benign tumors.

The 11 who had died as of January 2004 ranged from age 27 to over 60. 
Six were scientists who worked at the company for an average 25 years 
or more. Three were office workers.

In the 1990s, a similar brain cancer cluster was found at a BP Amoco 
laboratory in suburban Chicago. Seven employees developed 
glioblastomas in a 14-year period, while 10 others had benign brain 
tumors. The petroleum company failed to find a causal link, but 
settled suits involving all of the malignant cases.

Rohm and Haas had 2004 revenues of about $7.3 billion worldwide

-------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
Fax:(949) 296-1144

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at earthlink.net 

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/