Pratt & Whitney Cancer Study Important to Brain Tumor Community

Pratt & Whitney Cancer Study Important to Brain Tumor Community

In addition to employees and families of the Connecticut Pratt & Whitney plants, members of the brain tumor community are anxious for researchers to study the incidence of brain tumors there.

In 1996 executives of Amoco Chemicals Research Center in Illinois commissioned researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to study a cluster of brain tumors at their largest U.S. research complex. The study concluded in 1999 but failed to find exact cause, although researchers said they had found statistical evidence that some of the chemicals used in the laboratory may have caused the malignant brain tumors. Even though there was disappointment and frustration from Amoco and patients' relatives, a possible link in scientific circles is a significant step.

The Pratt & Whitney study will include a much larger number of people than the Amoco study and will cover almost 50 years of medical records. Hopefully, these factors will help to yield significant results.

"We are hopeful researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oklahoma who will conduct the Pratt & Whitney study will network with the researchers who conducted the Amoco studies. Hopefully this compilation of data will help find the answers we seek about the causes of brain tumors," said Naomi Berkowitz, executive director of the American Brain Tumor Association.

This year, about 17,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with a primary, malignant brain tumor. While many studies are underway to seek more effective treatments, little research is being done to identify possible causes. Once we learn causes, we may be able to help prevent brain tumors from occurring, or at least have better treatment methods.

While research continues, the American Brain Tumor Association provides individuals interested in brain tumors with objective information, resources and free access to social services. For more info call 800-886-2282, or visit <www.abta.org>.