(WBRE/WYOU) — Current and former members of Congress are asking the Pennsylvania Department of Health to investigate a concerning trend of health problems identified by former employees of a now-razed manufacturing facility in Olyphant, Lackawanna County.
Former Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-8th) first requested the investigation in a letter last month, the I-Team has learned. His successor, Rob Bresnahan (R-8th) has promised to continue to look into what could be hundreds of illnesses identified by former members of the facility.
Some of those former employees of those companies, where records, CDs and 8-track and cassette tapes were manufactured under several corporate names, contacted the I-Team about their concerns. The last company closed in 2018, and the building was destroyed in 2020.
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One of those former employees, Aline Browning, contacted Cartwright, and on December 12, Cartwright wrote to Dr. Debra Bogen, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health, to request an investigation into the companies that had operated in that location, dating back to the 1950s.
In part, Cartwright wrote:"Dear Secretary Bogen, I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are former employees – or familymembers of former employees – of the former Specialty Records, WEA Manufacturing, andCinram plant(s) in Olyphant, Pennsylvania who have, over a period of years, noticed andpartially documented what appear to be strikingly high rates of cancer and other illnesses anddeaths, including a notable number of middle-age deaths, among fellow former employees.This same group of former employees – or family members of former employees – also reportthe former relatively liberal and incautious use of potentially hazardous substances on the job atthe Specialty Records, WEA Manufacturing, and Cinram plant(s).The serious health problems reported in this group include numerous instances of cancer –including mesothelioma, other lung cancers, leukemia, pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, kidneycancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, lymphoma, rectal cancer, melanoma, and other cancers –myasthenia gravis, heart conditions, lupus, other autoimmune diseases, other lung andrespiratory diseases, and cysts."
You can read the full letter from Cartwright here.
Cartwright wasn't accusing these companies of operating an unsafe environment, but he was responding to the concerns expressed by Browning.
She worked at the plant for 11 months in the warehouse. She suffers from lung and heart issues.. And began talking to other former employees about their shared health concerns. This after seeing a Facebook page dedicated to discussing their health fears.
"I started seeing all these obituaries, they were all cancer and then I came across this list... It was on a word document and it looked like a collection of everyone who had died from cancer and it was a lot," Browning explained.
Browning claims she found hundreds of former employees who died or suffered from some form of cancer.
"There are a lot of leukemias, lymphomas. There are many women with breast cancers. There are so many cancer cases to even specifically call out a particular one," Browning added.
Vince Smigel worked inside the plant for 17 years. He worked in the CD plating department.He told us he suffers from a weakened immune system. He says he wants former coworkers to get checked out.
"There was a lot of information that may not have been shared completely and there's people who are still here to get checked," he told us.
Newly-elected Congressman Rob Bresnahan (R) 8th District,, who is following his predecessor's inquiry tells the I-Team the employee concerns have to be taken seriously..
"My office is aware of former Congressman Cartwright's letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Health and will continue to monitor the situation as it progresses. As NEPA's representative in Congress, I will always work to keep our citizens safe and healthy," Bresnahan wrote in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Health sent this statement to the I-Team:
"The Pennsylvania Department of Health is still reviewing available information and will determine the appropriate next steps… We remain committed to public health and safety and will provide updates as they become available," said Mark O'Neill, Press Secretary for the PA Department of Health.
The I-Team has also attempted to contact officials with the now defunct companies. Those efforts have thus far been unsuccessful. We also reached out to officials regarding these cancer cluster concerns.
Lackawanna County Communications Director Patrick McKenna tells us, "As a policy matter of course. The commissioners support the effort to investigate the matter, but lack the expertise to speak to specifics."
"We have not been contacted by anyone regarding cancer cluster concerns," said Olyphant Borough Manager C.J. Mustacchio.
And a CDC spokesperson says requests can be made to the CDC for assistance in an investigation.
