A recent study found no connection between the risk of death from lung or liver cancer and exposure to a chemical produced at a neoprene facility near Reserve, La., reports the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The peer-reviewed scientific journal is dedicated to workplace health and safety.
The study reviewed lifetime data from more than 1,300 employees at the Denka Performance Elastomer LLC (formerly DuPont) facility, along with approximately 5,500 employees of a facility in Louisville, Ky. They found below-average rates for all cancer deaths compared with the U.S. and parish/county averages.
The study was authored by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and funded by the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers, and followed a previous study published in 2007 that found similar results. Other research completed by the Louisiana Tumor Registry shows residents living near the Reserve plant do not experience elevated rates of those cancers compared with state averages. See the full report.
