EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A study six years in the making of nearly
225,000 people shows that the rates of cancer deaths among workers at jet engine
manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is the same or lower than in Connecticut and the
U.S., researchers said Thursday.
"We're encouraged by these findings," Pratt spokesman Jay DeFrank said.
"There's no association between any health issues and our workplace."
University of Pittsburgh researchers released the preliminary results of the
massive study of former and current employees who worked at one of seven Pratt &
Whitney sites in Connecticut between 1952 and 2001.
The findings for kidney cancer, bronchitis and respiratory disease suggest a
higher rate of illnesses, but that those illnesses may be due to non-work or
work outside of the company, researchers said.
Principal researcher Gary Marsh called the first-stage findings
"exploratory."
"Much more work needs to be done," he said.
The researchers were scheduled to meet with company employees later Thursday
to discuss the findings.
Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp.,
now employs about 12,000 workers in Cheshire, East Hartford and Middletown. The
study has also looked at those who worked in former Pratt plants in North Haven,
Rocky Hill, Southington and Manchester.
The study began in 2002 by the state Department of Health and Pratt after
complaints from families of workers who had died from a form of brain cancer.
Concerns were first raised in 2000 by a health committee of representatives
of Pratt and Whitney and the International Association of Machinists. The widows
of two Pratt & Whitney workers were among the first to push for a comprehensive
study.
An initial study by the state Health Department identified cases of the
disease but reached no conclusion about a possible link between the cancer and
workplace exposures to chemicals. Officials eventually said more than three
dozen Pratt workers died of a rare form of brain cancer, glioblastoma
multiforme.
The study came to incorporate the medical records of 123,000 employees who
worked at Pratt plants between 1952 and 2000. However, the number ballooned to
nearly 225,000 former and current employees.
Researchers added a genetic study, broadening the project's scope, as
investigators waded through data on job applications, the race and sex of
workers, work service cards, the location of jobs and job assignments.
The study, which became one of the largest of its kind, was overseen by the
Connecticut Department of Public Health, which wanted to know if a cancer
cluster exists at the United Technologies subsidiary and if so, why.
Researchers sought to identify all living and deceased brain cancer patients
dating to 1976, and they examined data of thousands of contaminants.
(This version CORRECTS the number of people studied to nearly 225,000)
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