Study: Conn. Pratt & Whitney cancer rates normal
June 4, 2010 The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh and
University of Illinois, released the second of three phases of
their massive study of 212,513 workers at one of eight Connecticut
plants from 1952 to 2001.
Of the workers from that 49-year period who were alive between
1976 and 2004, researchers said they identified 489 cases of
malignant central nervous system cancers. Of those, 275 were brain
tumors.
Researchers found slightly higher rates of brain cancer at one
facility of Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies
Corp. in North Haven, Conn. But they said the difference was not
statistically significant and does not appear linked to workplace
factors.
The principal researcher, Gary Marsh, said the third and final
phase of the study, which is due to be released early next year,
will look at whether workplace factors caused cancer.
"Phase 3 is really the definitive step where we can actually
link mortality incidence to exposures and characteristics of the
work environment," he said at a news conference unveiling the
study.
The results mirror the conclusions of the first phase, which
were released in September 2008, Pratt & Whitney said.
"We are reassured that the study does not show an increased
rate of brain cancer among our Connecticut employees," the company
said in a statement.
The company commissioned the $12 million study, which is being
overseen by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, in 2002
after complaints from families of workers who died from a form of
brain cancer.
The widow of one worker is dissatisfied with the study, which
she said is showing the company didn't do anything wrong. Shirley
Platt, whose husband, Francis Platt, died of brain cancer in 2004
at age 73, said the third and definitive phase should have been
released immediately.
Platt, who also worked at the company until she retired in the
mid-1990s, said brain cancer continues to afflict Pratt & Whitney
employees.
"There's still something out there that needs studying," she
said.
Concerns were initially raised in 2000 by a health committee of
representatives of Pratt & Whitney and the International
Association of Machinists, which represents the workers. The widows
of two Pratt & Whitney employees were among the first to push for a
comprehensive study.
One of the women was Carol Shea, whose husband, John Shea, died
of brain cancer in 2000 at age 56. He worked at the North Haven
plant for 35 years.
Shea said before the release of the results Thursday that she
does not expect to hear anything substantive until the third phase
is wrapped up.
"Until it's done, how will they know?" she asked. "Right now,
what can we do? All we can do is wait. We can't do anything until
the study is done."