Study Suggests BP Amoco Cancers Job-Related

Six workers at a BP Amoco research center in suburban Chicago probably got deadly brain cancer from their jobs, company officials said, citing a three-year study that dismissed any work connection to other ill employees and left many questions unanswered. While the investigation will continue, officials acknowledged that intensive efforts to solve the decade-long medical mystery have ended without identifying any specific cause for the tumors. “What we know today is that six of our colleagues have been affected with brain cancer and there’s a pattern that appears to be work-related,” said Jim Lowry, head of the company’s health investigation task force. “We will continue to study; we will continue to look.” Attorneys for former employees and surviving relatives who are suing the company said they hadn’t yet received the report by investigators from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Johns Hopkins University. Ten lawsuits have been filed against the company on behalf of 21 people, some with malignant brain tumors and others with noncancerous tumors in their heads or other types of cancer. The lawsuits allege workers were exposed to several neurotoxins--elements that poison the central nervous system--because of inadequate ventilation and lax safety.