A community group will host a town hall meeting this weekend to provide updates about ongoing chemical exposure concerns around a former manufacturing plant in Olyphant.
Lackawanna Citizens Overwatch Project's (LCOP) meeting is set for 6-8 p.m. Saturday at the Throop Civic Center, 500 Sanderson St.
Pennsylvania's Department of Health last year acknowledged assessing cancer rates in the area surrounding the Olyphant factory, which was known as Specialty Records, WEA Manufacturing and Cinram prior to closing in 2018. The plant, which produced and packaged CDs and DVDs, was demolished in 2020.
A DOH spokesperson said the agency was checking on the status of the assessment but an answer was not immediately available when asked this week.
Saturday's meeting "is open to former employees, family members of former employees, residents and anyone seeking information about the ongoing investigation," LCOP said in a release.
Archbald-based legal firm TozLaw has been working with individuals and families and has partnered with toxicology professionals and a nationally recognized chemical exposure law firm to assist with reviewing available information and potential claims, LCOP's release added.
The town hall will include updates from TozLaw and toxicologists, a victim count and what LCOP has accomplished since an initial town hall last year, which was attended by more than 100 former employees, the release said.
The plant was owned by Paris-based Technicolor when it shut down. The division under which the factory had been owned was spun off as a new firm, Vantiva, in 2022, while Technicolor went out of business in 2025.
An email to Vanitiva's corporate website was not immediately answered on Thursday.
LCOP founder and president Aline Browning's father Charles, who worked at the plant for 26 years, died in November 2023 after an aggressive form of lung cancer metastasized and moved to his brain, she told WVIA News last year.
“This effort started because families wanted answers. We encourage anyone who has been affected, has information, or simply wants to understand what is happening to attend,” Browning said.
