Workers at microwave popcorn factory may need lung transplants, lawyers say

A new and horrible industrial disease has emerged to join the great scourges of a supposedly forgotten past: popcorn packer's lung.

Eight workers at a microwave popcorn factory in Jasper, Missouri, have been diagnosed with a respiratory illness similar to the rare but often-fatal bronchiololitis obliterans , a build-up of scar tissue blocking the lungs.

Doctors say the chances of this happening by chance are extremely remote. At least 30 more people who have worked at the factory have severe breathing problems and all may eventually need new lungs, their lawyers say. They are, not surprisingly, suing.

The Missouri department of health began investigating the cases two years ago after a local doctor became suspicious. The eight all worked in the same area of the factory, and investigators pinned the problem down to the tanks where soya beans, salt and flavourings are mixed to produce the buttery flavour.

Similar cases are now being found at some of the other 141 popcorn plants in the US. Microwave popcorn is the fastest-growing segment of a huge industry.

"The workers there were getting incredible doses," Eduardo Simoes, a Missouri state epidemiologist told the local newspaper, the Joplin Globe, last year. However, the story only came to national attention yesterday after an investigation by USA Today.

The paper discovered one former worker, Hal Woods, who also had a rash, red eyes and a skin condition so bad that he could hardly stand.

"This factory is the biggest employer in Jasper by miles and it's been devastating for the workers there," said Wally Kennedy, the Joplin journalist who first reported the story.

The factory owner, Gilster- Mary Lee, says the company has improved ventilation on official advice. Lawyers are focusing mainly on the company which is responsible for the flavouring, International Flavors and Fragrances, claiming it was aware of the problem. It denies responsibility.