By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

“A little weak and a lot late.”

That was the reaction of a union official who blasted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration last week for not “doing more” to protect food workers from a butter-flavoring chemical linked to lung disease.

The remark came more than a year after the union and other experts called for regulation of the chemical, and after another round of lawsuits was filed by workers and residents in Jasper.

“It’s a real travesty that when we have this kind of evidence of a chemical causing such a devastating lung disease, OSHA is not out in front to prevent further exposure,” said Jackie Nowell, safety and health officer with the Food and Commercial Workers union.

Her comments came after another round of lawsuits was filed this month in Jasper County Circuit Court by Ken McClain, an attorney from Independence. The plaintiffs are 43 former and current workers at the Jasper Popcorn Co. plant as well as a man who lived near the plant.

The lawsuits represent a second round of legal action against International Flavors and Fragrances Inc., and Bush Boake Allen Inc., the manufacturers of the butter flavoring that contains diacetyl. Many experts say the chemical can cause a potentially fatal lung disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans.

“We’ve known about this since the late 1990s,” Nowell said.

The first round of suits, which began in early 2004, involved 43 people who worked at the popcorn plant in the 1990s. Most won verdicts against the manufacturers or settled. Thirty of those early cases were adjudicated in Jasper County, with a $20 million verdict, two $15 million verdicts and a $2.7 million verdict awarded by juries. Thirteen were transferred to federal court and eventually settled.

One worker named in the first round of lawsuits died of lung disease in 2006. Eight more workers reportedly have been evaluated for lung transplants, but none has received a transplant to date.

‘Pretty lame’

Nowell said the union petitioned OSHA in July 2006 to adopt emergency standards to limit exposure to diacetyl.

“They never responded to our petition for an emergency standard, which is pretty lame,” she said. “The only thing they’ve done to date is put out a national emphasis program on microwave popcorn.”

Officials with OSHA declined to comment on the record. The U.S. Department of Labor said its regulatory agency is implementing a national program to educate employers about potential health hazards, and that additional safety bulletins will be provided.

“In the near future, OSHA also expects to release a Safety and Health Information Bulletin on the use of butter flavorings in the microwave popcorn industry, and guidance for employers with regard to their responsibilities to communicate hazards of diacetyl and food flavorings containing diacetyl to their employees,” according to an e-mail from Sharon Worthy, a public affairs official with the Department of Labor.

Worthy said the bulletin would not mandate a minimum standard for worker exposure to the flavoring agent.

Nowell said the union is fed up with waiting, and now is working with Congress to pass legislation that would force OSHA to adopt a temporary emergency standard and eventually adopt a permanent standard after no more than two years.

But in a letter to Congress, OSHA’s head and Assistant Secretary of Labor Edwin G. Foulke Jr. argued that the bill would hamper his department.

“We have concluded that the approach ... will not afford the best protection for workers because it will not allow OSHA sufficient time to undertake a proper rulemaking,” he said. “OSHA may overlook opportunities to provide needed worker safety, and may at the same time propose expensive control strategies that may be ineffective.”

Nowell said the union also is trying to pass legislation at the state level to protect workers.

“We’re working in California, where they are working on a standard,” she said. “We’re working to make sure the federal bill gets sponsored and people know about it.”

While popcorn has received most of the attention, Nowell said the union also is concerned that workers in other food industries may be suffering from exposure to diacetyl.

“We’re worried about cake mixes, candy and snack foods, everything with buttered flavoring,” she said. “Those are the three industries that we think should be quickly looked at. Maybe there’s no problem at all, but they should be looked at.”

McClain, the attorney representing the local plaintiffs, said regulators have known since 2002 of the problem with the flavoring. He said nothing has happened in five years, which he said is less time than it took the United States to join and win World War II.

“We don’t understand why it is taking the government so long,” he said. “It appears to be tied into the Bush administration’s general dislike of regulating business and protecting the public health.”





New defendants, new charges



Three new defendants — Givaudan Flavors of Cincinnati, Ohio, another maker of a butter flavoring used at the plant in Jasper; and Aldrich Chemical Co. and Sigma-Aldrich Inc., suppliers of acetaldehyde (a chemical ingredient in the flavoring) — have been added in the latest round of lawsuits. Also added were allegations of fraudulent concealment and civil conspiracy on the part of all the defendants.