Former workers at Pratt & Whitney, and their families were in disbelief Thursday night after a new study released said the company is not to blame for hundreds of workers diagnosed with brain cancer.
Tammy Denesha says she has a hard time believing it. She and dozens of others heard the results of the brain cancer study at the Pratt & Whitney Jet Manufacturing plant in Connecticut.
“I can’t trust something that's funded by the people who might have started the problem and might have a stake in what the outcome is,” Denesha said.
The results showed employees were not at risk of getting brain cancer at the workplace. Tammy Denesha strongly questioned that.
Her father was a mechanic there in the late 1960’s and was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. “I thought we would have more warning, but six months ago all the sudden he has 6-12 months to live out of the blue it's very upsetting,” Denesha said.
Pratt & Whitney paid $12,000,000 for the research that started 12 years ago at the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Illinois.
Researchers took data from nearly a quarter million workers from 1952-2001. Roughly 700 were diagnosed with brain tumors, and more than 200 were cancerous. “It seems like it's bigger than a coincidence,” Denesha explained.
The first two phases of the study were inconclusive. The final phase was just completed and researchers said the chemicals workers were exposed to at Pratt & Whitney did not contribute to their health problems.
“They had ample opportunity to receive exposures in occupations before working here. Some of them left at an early age to continue working in other places,” said Gary Marsh, with the University of Pittsburgh.
Marsh's explanation is one that Tammy Denesah said she couldn't accept.
“I see it first hand, he worked at Pratt &Whitney for several years in the late 60s, early 70s. OSHA wasn't what it is now,” she said.
A spokesperson with Pratt & Whitney told NBC Connecticut the company would not look into this issue any further. He said there was full confidence in the results, because the State Department of Health oversaw the investigation.
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