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What is it?

How did it get started?

Is butter flavoring ruining popcorn workers' lungs?

By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY

JASPER, Mo. — When the days turn humid in this farming town, the air becomes thick with the smell of butter from the Gilster-Mary Lee plant, a microwave-popcorn factory and one of the area's largest employers. At night, when the buildings' lights are ablaze, some residents say they've seen a yellowish cloud emanate from the building and fill the dark sky. For years, no one here complained much about the odor or the fumes, figuring those were harmless prices to pay for prosperity. But a growing number of workers say the cause of that aroma is destroying their lungs. Some former workers are afflicted with a rare lung disease believed to be caused by inhaling a substance never suspected as an on-the-job hazard: the butter flavoring in microwave popcorn.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has dispatched investigators here and to similar plants elsewhere in the country, suspects this might be a new occupational illness that could be afflicting employees at other food plants nationwide.

This is a behind-the-scenes look at the federal investigators' search for a potential new workplace disease — dubbed Popcorn Packers' Lung by the doctors who first identified these cases.

The disease is lethal and irreversible, doctors say. At least 30 former employees at the plant here have severe breathing problems, and nearly all may eventually need new lungs, according to a lawsuit filed by workers and lawyers on the case. Four have been accepted on lung transplant lists, and doctors say some are functioning on less than a third of a working lung.

Current workers at the Gilster-Mary Lee plant in Jasper are more than twice as likely as other Americans to have respiratory problems, according to federal studies, and some have also developed rashes so severe that their skin has peeled off.

Because butter flavoring is also used at other plants where food products are manufactured, investigators say this could go beyond popcorn. In fact, cases already have been found in other states. Health officials say smoking doesn't cause the lung disease.

"Workers exposed to flavorings at microwave-popcorn factories are at risk for developing fixed obstructive lung disease," according to an April report by the CDC.

It's not known what ingredient, if any, in the flavoring could be the cause. There is no evidence consumers who eat microwave popcorn or visit movie theaters where butter flavoring is used are at risk.

Former workers are suing New York-based International Flavors & Fragrances, which makes the flavoring used in Jasper. According to the lawsuit, the firm knew its product was dangerous but didn't provide warnings or instructions on safe use.

International Flavors & Fragrances officials say the lawsuit is without merit and the butter flavoring is not to blame. The flavorings "are safe for handling and use by workers in food manufacturing plants when used in accordance with specified safety procedures," according to a statement.

Gilster-Mary Lee, which bought the popcorn factory in 1999, says it has "provided, and will continue to provide, a safe, healthy work environment for its employees."

Lawyers say it's premature to speculate on what effect the cases could have on the companies, but both have insurance expected to provide some financial protection.

Every day, employees nationwide come into contact with thousands of chemicals, most of which have never been tested. There are historical precedents for what may be happening here. Workplace substances once considered safe, such as asbestos and lead, have later been found to be hazards.

A case like the one in Jasper offers a rare glimpse into the unraveling of an epidemiological mystery that has devastated workers' lives and sent federal and state health investigators scrambling to protect future victims…

…November 1999

For months before Thanksgiving, Jace Kentner had been getting calls from his mother. She was worried about health problems plaguing his stepfather, Hal Woods. She said he had a cough. Red eyes. A rash on his feet and hands…

…December 1999

Jasper is a cozy town tucked amid emerald-green soybean fields. The town includes Judy's Café, the diner where all the regulars go, as well as a gospel church and a grocery where gossip is as much of a commodity as the produce.

Here, word spread quickly about Kentner's plan to file a workers' compensation claim against the popcorn plant. Back in Lake of the Ozarks, Kentner received calls from former plant employees.

All had lung or skin problems.

This was bigger than his stepfather's case. Kentner suspected he might have a product-liability lawsuit against the company that made products used at the plant. He couldn't handle this alone.

He turned to Wright Green & Baughman, a firm in Blue Springs, Mo., that three lawyers had just started. One of them, Ted Green, 33, agreed to go with Kentner to meet former Jasper employees.

They spoke with Linda Redman, 53, of Joplin, Mo., who became sick in 1996. When they met her, she was in the hospital, tethered to oxygen to assist her breathing.

They spoke with Angela Nally of Carthage, Mo., a former plant worker who'd battled breathing problems for years.

But it wasn't until they met Eric Peoples that Green really suspected he had a case, maybe the case of a lifetime. Peoples sat in a chair at his Carthage, Mo., apartment, his two young children off silently playing. He got up to get a glass of water and stopped for air. In the quiet house, the two lawyers could hear him wheezing over the patter of rain on the roof.

Peoples had worked in the mixing room, handling five-gallon buckets of yellow butter flavoring as thick as vanilla pudding. He developed a rattling cough in 1998 that doctors diagnosed as pneumonia — only it didn't get better. Now he was on the waiting list for a double lung transplant, his lung capacity down to 18%. He was 28 years old at the time…

…January 2001

As their case grew, lawyer Green realized he needed the assistance of a larger team. In January, he took his case to Kenneth McClain of Humphrey Farrington McClain& Edgar in Independence, Mo. McClain took up the case.

In March of 2004, McClain secured a $20 million verdict for Mr. Peoples and his wife and currently represents over 100 victims of popcorn lung nationwide.

For the complete text of this article, click here:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/general/2002/06/20/popcorn-factory.htm

If you or your loved one is suffering from popcorn lung, do not trust your life and the futures of your loved ones to the inexperienced. CONTACT US AT ONCE. We are working with over 100 families to secure the financial compensation they need to recover, receive transplants, and replace lost income. Our $20 million verdict for Mr. Peoples is just the beginning in what is already a 3-year commitment by our firm to get compensation for the victims and their families.