Cancer rates normal among jet-engine factory workers

The incidence of brain cancer at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney was the same as or less than for the general population, researchers said.

The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh and University of Illinois, released the second of three phases of their massive study of 212,513 workers at one of eight Connecticut plants from 1952 to 2001.

Of the workers from that 49-year period who were alive between 1976 and 2004, researchers said they identified 489 cases of malignant central nervous system cancers. Of those, 275 were brain tumors.

Researchers found slightly higher rates of brain cancer at one facility of Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. in North Haven, Conn. But they said the difference was not statistically significant and does not appear linked to workplace factors.

The principal researcher, Gary Marsh, said the third and final phase of the study, which is due to be released early next year, will look at whether workplace factors caused cancer.

The results mirror the conclusions of the first phase, which were released in September 2008, Pratt & Whitney said.

The company commissioned the $12 million study, which is being overseen by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, in 2002 after complaints from families of workers who died from a form of brain cancer.