Joanne Branham says she has no doubts about the cause of the brain cancer that took the life of her husband, Franklin, six years ago. She blames the vinyl chloride that they were exposed to for nearly four decades while living in the village of McCullom Lake, Ill., a mile downwind from a chemical plant operated by Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas. “The smell was so bad that we had to keep our windows closed in the summertime,” she said, in a report by the Center for Public Integrity.
A suit brought by the Branham family against the company is set for trial on Monday. It could prove to be a legal landmark in establishing whether vinyl chloride, a key ingredient in plastics, causes brain cancer and is responsible for clusters of the disease — including the 17 cases reported since 1993 in McCullom Lake, an unusually high number for a community of roughly 1,000 people.
The case, scheduled for state court in Philadelphia, is the first to go to trial among 31 lawsuits filed against Rohm & Haas, a Dow Chemical subsidiary that makes sealants and adhesives at its plant in Ringwood, Ill., near where the Branham family lived. The 31 cases involve the 17 malignancies, along with 13 benign brain tumors and one case of liver disease that required a transplant.
Rohm & Haas denies any connection between vinyl chloride and the brain tumors in McCullom Lake. And any link will be difficult to prove: Organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization already have looked at the issue and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to link the chemical to brain cancer.
Rohm & Haas “believes that these claims are factually and scientifically unfounded, and for this reason, will continue to vigorously defend these cases,” a company spokeswoman said.
There is, however, a previous case that offers the plaintiffs hope. In 2006, the widow of a New Jersey man was awarded $1.2 million in a case that alleged that vinyl chloride caused brain cancer.
“There’s been suspicion of brain cancer for long time,” said Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform, which advocates more stringent health and safety regulations. If the Branham family and other plaintiffs prevail in court, “it would solidify that theory.”
