 Popcorn Packers' Lung
- Occupational Bronchiolitis Obliterans
Welcome to the Brown & Crouppen Popcorn Packers'
Lung page.
Brown & Crouppen has thrived for over a quarter of a
century because of our shared commitment to deliver
the best possible service to clients throughout
Missouri and the United States.
On March 15, 2004, a
jury awarded $20 million to a Jasper, Mo., popcorn
packaging worker whose lungs were destroyed by the
vapors emitted from the butter flavoring used in
microwave popcorn. He was the first of 30 former
workers at the popcorn factory to go to trial. All
have severe lung problems; more trials are
scheduled.
The worker was
granted $18 million by the jury, and his wife $2
million in compensatory personal injury damages
against New York-based International Flavors and
Fragrances Inc., which manufactured the flavoring
for the popcorn produced at the plant, and its
subsidiary, Bush Boake Allen. The flavoring contains
the chemical diacetyl - a ketone with butter-flavor
characteristics - which the Centers for Disease
Control suspects is behind the illnesses in
Missouri. Other pending cases involve microwave food
processing plants in Nebraska, Illinois, and Ohio.
The popcorn factory was not a defendant.
This landmark legal
battle linked Bronchiolitis Obliterans, also known
as Popcorn Packers’ Lung, to vapors from butter
flavorings in the plant’s popcorn mixing room.
There is no cure for the disease, which restricts
and obstructs lung functioning. Some workers are so
short of breath they’re confined to their homes.
Others are on lung transplant lists, a procedure
with a life expectancy of just five years.
Multiple agencies
have studied the workers and the popcorn factory:
- Tests by The
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health —a division of the Centers for Disease
Control – showed that exposure to a chemical
in butter flavoring, diacetyl, caused
significant declines in pulmonary function and a
significant increase in bronchial diseases among
factory workers.
- Federal health
investigators with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said that the Missouri
workers raise new concerns about possible risk
for workers in other flavoring and food
production industries beyond microwave
popcorn.
- An article in the
New England Journal of Medicine concluded that
the “excess rates of lung disease and
lung-function abnormalities” among popcorn
factory workers indicated they probably had “occupational
bronchiolitis obliterans caused by the
inhalation of volatile butter-flavoring
ingredients.”
- The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency is currently
studying chemicals released from microwave
popcorn bags after they've been cooked, opened,
and eaten at home.
RECENT NEWS:
NPR : Popcorn Workers Sue Over Health Issues
Greg Allen reports on the run-up to the second
trial in Joplin, Mo., where employees of a popcorn
plant that made butter flavorings say the material
severely damaged their lungs, in some cases leading
to permanent disabilities.
CNN: Lawsuit: Fake
popcorn butter caused disease
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/02/popcorn.trial.ap/
At Brown &
Crouppen, we believe victims of Bronchiolitis
Obliterans, or Popcorn Packers’ Lung, have been
harmed because the manufacturers knew, or should
have known, that the butter flavorings were
hazardous, and that they failed to warn workers of
the dangers or to give instructions on the safe use
of the product.
You have a right to a safe and secure working
environment, and the right to seek the assistance of
an experienced attorney. Brown & Crouppen has over
70 legal professionals in five offices. Contact
Brown & Crouppen for a free case evaluation.
Call Brown & Crouppen at
1-800-536-HELP
for your free legal consultation or save time with
our online
Contact Form.
1-800-536-HELP |
