Amoco Under Investigation Again For High Number Of Brain Cancer Cases Near Its Sites

Missouri health officials are investigating whether people living near the former Amoco Oil Co. refinery (Sugar Creek, MO), run a higher risk of developing brain cancer following a preliminary study indicating that more cases have been reported than normally would be expected. The refinery was closed in 1982. Health officials are now investigating whether pollution from the site may have migrated to neighborhoods.

Now known as BP Amoco because of its recent merger, the company is already investigating a similar cluster of illnesses from workers in a building at its main research center (Naperville, IL). Alarmed by the unusually high number of workers who developed rare and fatal gliomas, Amoco began the investigations several years ago and expects to complete them by the summer of 1999. The company has not yet commented on the Missouri cases.

During their study, the Missouri Department of Health researched cancer cases between 1985 and 1997 in two Missouri zip codes that included parts of Independence and Sugar Creek. A public meeting to discuss the study was scheduled for March 23, 1999.

Missouri cancer control chief Marianne Ronan told the Kansas City Star on March 23, 1999, "We do know that we've found more brain cancer cases, not deaths, than we expected to find."

Five people who worked at Amoco's Naperville research center have died of gliomas. Since 1989, 21 current or former employees have been diagnosed with head tumors—all of whom worked on the third floor of Naperville Amoco Building 503.

For more information, call the Amoco Research Center at 630-961-6229.