Popcorn Lung Lawsuits Piling Up
April 17, 2009 by admin
Filed under Products Liability
Cincinnati has emerged as a hotspot for litigation over the so-called popcorn lung disease as dozens of workers have come forward in recent months to claim their health has been damaged by making the snack-time staple microwave popcorn.
At least 43 workers, some from the Carthage operations of Givaudan Flavors, have filed lawsuits in Hamilton County in recent months claiming their lungs have been irreversibly damaged by inhaling fumes from the butter flavoring that Givaudan makes. Givaudan, one of the world’s largest suppliers of flavorings to food manufacturers, sells flavorings to the nation’s biggest popcorn manufacturers for use in their products.
The claims are the latest chapter in the so-called “popcorn lung” saga that’s cast a cloud over the most common of household snacks and sent ripples through the billion-dollar-a-year popcorn industry.
Many of the workers are from a plant in Marion, Ohio owned by Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra Foods, which makes the top-selling popcorn brand, Orville Redenbacher, and others.
