The company conducted its own study in 2004 and found no significant links among 15 workers at its research campus in Spring House who had developed brain tumors since 1973. All but one has died.
Attorney Aaron J. Freiwald, who filed the lawsuit on the worker's behalf Monday, says "there is evidence enough to establish a workplace link to these cancers."
Nearly 6,000 chemists, technicians and others have worked at the campus since it opened in 1963, including about 1,000 people who work there now. The scientists there work on chemicals used in household and industrial products, from shampoos to paints to plastic dashboards.
Freiwald also is pursuing individual negligence lawsuits against Rohm and Haas on behalf of two longtime scientists diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.
One of them died in 2003 at age 50, two years after he was diagnosed. The other, Charles Hsu, 57, has sought treatment at a Texas cancer center but the treatment is not covered by his health care network, Freiwald says.
Five of the 15 workers described in Rohm and Haas' study were diagnosed with glioblastoma.
Both men worked on agricultural products such as pesticides. According to Freiwald, the three others diagnosed with glioblastoma worked near them at the Spring House campus. The company has since sold its agricultural unit.
The individual suits allege that Rohm and Haas failed to warn employees about potential toxins and carcinogens or train them in their proper handling.
