U.S. Congressman Matt Cartwright has requested an investigation into an Olyphant industrial plant’s potential role in causing a suspected cancer cluster as one of his last acts as a member of Congress.
In a letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen, Cartwright requested an investigation into chemicals used in the former Specialty Records, WEA Manufacturing, and Cinram plant(s) in Olyphant.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health acknowledged Friday it has received the letter and is reviewing the request.
Cartwright worked with former plant employees or family members of former plant employees to compile evidence that includes what Cartwright calls, “strikingly high rates of cancer and other illnesses and deaths, including a notable number of middle-age deaths.”
The CD and DVD production and packaging plant went through several ownership changes, ultimately closed in 2018.
In the letter, Cartwright writes that his constituents reported to him that the chemicals used, often without any personal protective equipment (PPE) or measures were: trichloroethylene (TCE), titanium acetylacetonate (TAA), methanol, ammonium hydroxide, methyl isobutyl keytone (MIBK), positive photoresists, nickel sulfamate, sulfuric acid, boric acid, black lacquer, Cobehn solutions, cyanide and benzene among other potentially hazardous substances.
The constituents say the prolonged and unprotected exposure to the chemicals is the cause of the high number of cancer diagnoses among former employees. In many cases, cancer and other illnesses resulted in death, according to Cartwright's letter to Bogen.
They identified the following illnesses among those affected: mesothelioma, leukemia, pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, lymphoma, rectal cancer and melanoma among other cancers; myasthenia gravis, heart conditions, lupus, autoimmune diseases, lung diseases, respiratory diseases and cysts.
Cartwright requested that the Department of Health:
- Start efforts to formally gather reports and data from the plant’s former employees/ former employees’ family members
- Analyze the data it receives
- Acknowledge the health risk represented by the reports and data
- Offer healthcare assistance, including health advice to surviving former employees who had prolonged contact with the potentially hazardous chemicals while on the job
Since Cartwright will be leaving office at the start of 2025, he directed the Department of Health to the constituents his office worked with for the past few months.
“I further request that, if additional information is needed before the Department can undertake a response as I’ve requested, the Department work with activists among this collective and advise them on what additional information is needed,” the letter states. “My office has been working with this group for a few months, and it is my belief that if anyone can turn up additional information, it is these activists.”
WVIA will be following this story as it continues to develop.
