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A Flash In The Pain
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Investigators Find Butter Flavoring
May Pose a Risk to Factory Workers
By JONATHAN EIG
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
At least two dozen workers at a microwave-popcorn plant in Jasper, Mo., have been diagnosed with serious lung ailments, and federal investigators say they are nearly certain they have pinpointed the cause: artificial butter flavoring.
After examining 117 workers at the Jasper plant of Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., a Chester, Ill., food manufacturer, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health issued a preliminary report saying that since 1992, eight workers there have developed bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare disease in which lung tissue is permanently destroyed. Six of those eight employees are awaiting lung transplants.
The report found workers at the plant, which makes mostly store brands of popcorn, had twice the national rate of bronchitis and asthma and more than three times the rate of obstructed breathing. Workers who had never smoked suffered at even greater rates -- experiencing almost 11 times the national rate of obstructed breathing.
The institute, known as Niosh, says it believes it is safe for consumers to eat microwave popcorn and other artificially flavored products that have received Food and Drug Administration approval. It is workers in the production process who may be at risk, Niosh says, because of their intense exposure to the ingredients.
Kathleen Kreiss, field-studies branch chief for Niosh, said the agency has alerted health departments all over the country to begin working with popcorn plants to limit workers' exposure to components in artificial-butter flavorings. In particular, the agency is warning about diacetyl, a chemical compound that smells and tastes like butter and is the main ingredient in many butter flavorings.
There are about 140 popcorn plants in the country. Niosh is trying to determine whether workers at any of the others have experienced health problems. The agency says it hasn't decided whether to broaden the alert to suppliers of butter flavorings or companies that make other products using the flavorings. "We don't know how widely the recommendations should be made," Dr. Kreiss said. "We're trying to get a handle on that."
Niosh investigators fed large quantities of artificial-butter flavorings to laboratory animals, many of which developed the lung disease and died. Next, they will feed the animals diacetyl alone to try to isolate the hazard. Diacetyl also is found in many wines, beers, cookies, candies and cheese-flavored products.
The maker of the butter flavoring used in the Jasper popcorn plant is International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., one of the world's largest flavorings suppliers. IFF, whose shares are publicly traded, is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in Jasper County Circuit Court by more than two dozen current and former workers at the Jasper plant.
Officials at Gilster-Mary Lee, which purchased Jasper Popcorn Co. in 1999, didn't return phone calls. International Flavors & Fragrances, in a statement, says, "We do not believe that any of our products are responsible for any injuries that the plaintiffs may have suffered." A spokeswoman declined to answer questions but says IFF is cooperating with the investigation.
According to Niosh, the company's Jasper plant is still producing popcorn, and the company is cooperating with the agency to improve conditions there. The plaintiffs have filed workers' compensation claims against Gilster-Mary Lee, and the company has agreed to pay some of their medical expenses, according to plaintiffs' lawyers.
"We all have confidence that the plant can bring those exposures under control," says Dr. Kreiss. "But they don't have a clean bill of health yet."
Clusters of disease are commonly rumored but rarely confirmed. One reason the Jasper cluster came to investigators' attention is that it occurred in a town of about 1,000 people. In Jasper, the popcorn plant is by far the biggest employer in town, providing about 130 jobs. Many employees considered themselves lucky. Eric Peoples quit a job as a cabinetmaker to work at the factory. "It was heaven," says Mr. Peoples, 29 years old, who worked at the plant for almost two years, earning as much as $12 an hour. "It was inside, and they had fans, and you got to sit down while you worked."
He recalls teasing his supervisor because the older man couldn't walk up a flight of stairs. The supervisor was 33. After about a year of work, Mr. Peoples says he too began to experience congestion and shortness of breath.
On the floor of Gilster-Mary Lee's Jasper plant, workers mix soybean oil, salt, artificial butter flavorings and coloring agents, a strong smelling brew warmed to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. "By the time you got all the butter flavor in there, it'd look like pudding," said Bart Yowell, 37 years old, a former employee, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "When you opened the lid on the mixer, it would take your breath away for a minute. But it was no big deal. I'd been around it for so many years."
The suit alleges that another defendant, a local physician, Rick L. Scacewater, had knowledge of the "epidemic levels" of the disease at the Jasper plant and failed to warn employees or public health officials. A lawyer for Dr. Scacewater says he never recognized a pattern and promptly referred most of his patients to specialists at out-of-town hospitals, where they were diagnosed and treated.
May Pose a Risk to Factory Workers
By JONATHAN EIG
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
At least two dozen workers at a microwave-popcorn plant in Jasper, Mo., have been diagnosed with serious lung ailments, and federal investigators say they are nearly certain they have pinpointed the cause: artificial butter flavoring.
After examining 117 workers at the Jasper plant of Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., a Chester, Ill., food manufacturer, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health issued a preliminary report saying that since 1992, eight workers there have developed bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare disease in which lung tissue is permanently destroyed. Six of those eight employees are awaiting lung transplants.
The report found workers at the plant, which makes mostly store brands of popcorn, had twice the national rate of bronchitis and asthma and more than three times the rate of obstructed breathing. Workers who had never smoked suffered at even greater rates -- experiencing almost 11 times the national rate of obstructed breathing.
The institute, known as Niosh, says it believes it is safe for consumers to eat microwave popcorn and other artificially flavored products that have received Food and Drug Administration approval. It is workers in the production process who may be at risk, Niosh says, because of their intense exposure to the ingredients.
Kathleen Kreiss, field-studies branch chief for Niosh, said the agency has alerted health departments all over the country to begin working with popcorn plants to limit workers' exposure to components in artificial-butter flavorings. In particular, the agency is warning about diacetyl, a chemical compound that smells and tastes like butter and is the main ingredient in many butter flavorings.
There are about 140 popcorn plants in the country. Niosh is trying to determine whether workers at any of the others have experienced health problems. The agency says it hasn't decided whether to broaden the alert to suppliers of butter flavorings or companies that make other products using the flavorings. "We don't know how widely the recommendations should be made," Dr. Kreiss said. "We're trying to get a handle on that."
Niosh investigators fed large quantities of artificial-butter flavorings to laboratory animals, many of which developed the lung disease and died. Next, they will feed the animals diacetyl alone to try to isolate the hazard. Diacetyl also is found in many wines, beers, cookies, candies and cheese-flavored products.
The maker of the butter flavoring used in the Jasper popcorn plant is International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., one of the world's largest flavorings suppliers. IFF, whose shares are publicly traded, is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in Jasper County Circuit Court by more than two dozen current and former workers at the Jasper plant.
Officials at Gilster-Mary Lee, which purchased Jasper Popcorn Co. in 1999, didn't return phone calls. International Flavors & Fragrances, in a statement, says, "We do not believe that any of our products are responsible for any injuries that the plaintiffs may have suffered." A spokeswoman declined to answer questions but says IFF is cooperating with the investigation.
According to Niosh, the company's Jasper plant is still producing popcorn, and the company is cooperating with the agency to improve conditions there. The plaintiffs have filed workers' compensation claims against Gilster-Mary Lee, and the company has agreed to pay some of their medical expenses, according to plaintiffs' lawyers.
"We all have confidence that the plant can bring those exposures under control," says Dr. Kreiss. "But they don't have a clean bill of health yet."
Clusters of disease are commonly rumored but rarely confirmed. One reason the Jasper cluster came to investigators' attention is that it occurred in a town of about 1,000 people. In Jasper, the popcorn plant is by far the biggest employer in town, providing about 130 jobs. Many employees considered themselves lucky. Eric Peoples quit a job as a cabinetmaker to work at the factory. "It was heaven," says Mr. Peoples, 29 years old, who worked at the plant for almost two years, earning as much as $12 an hour. "It was inside, and they had fans, and you got to sit down while you worked."
He recalls teasing his supervisor because the older man couldn't walk up a flight of stairs. The supervisor was 33. After about a year of work, Mr. Peoples says he too began to experience congestion and shortness of breath.
On the floor of Gilster-Mary Lee's Jasper plant, workers mix soybean oil, salt, artificial butter flavorings and coloring agents, a strong smelling brew warmed to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. "By the time you got all the butter flavor in there, it'd look like pudding," said Bart Yowell, 37 years old, a former employee, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "When you opened the lid on the mixer, it would take your breath away for a minute. But it was no big deal. I'd been around it for so many years."
The suit alleges that another defendant, a local physician, Rick L. Scacewater, had knowledge of the "epidemic levels" of the disease at the Jasper plant and failed to warn employees or public health officials. A lawyer for Dr. Scacewater says he never recognized a pattern and promptly referred most of his patients to specialists at out-of-town hospitals, where they were diagnosed and treated.
