The story of a group of Goodyear Tire and Rubber workers fatally exposed to toxic chemicals, the lawyer who sought justice on their behalf, and the shameful lack of protection our society affords all workers
A gripping narrative in the tradition of A Civil Action and Toms River
Working at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company chemical plant in Niagara Falls, New York, was considered a good job. It was the kind of industrial manufacturing job that allowed blue-collar workers to thrive in the latter half of the 20th century--that allowed them to buy their own home, and maybe a boat for the lake.
But it was also the kind of job that gave you bladder cancer.
The Cancer Factory tells the story of the workers who experienced one of the nation's worst, and best-documented, outbreaks of work-related cancer, and the lawyer who has represented the bladder-cancer victims at the plant for more than thirty years, as well as the retired workers who have been diagnosed with the disease and live in constant fear of its recurrence.
In doing so it tells a story of corporate malfeasance and governmental neglect. Workers have only weak protections from exposure to toxic substances in America, and regulatory breaches contribute to an estimated 95,000 deaths from occupational illness each year. Goodyear, and its chemical supplier, Dupont, knew that two of the chemicals used in the plant had been shown to cause cancer, but made little effort to protect the plant's workers until the cluster of bladder cancer cases--and deaths--was undeniable. Based on four decades of reporting and delving deeply into the scientific literature about toxic substances and health risks, the arcana of worker regulations, and reality of loose enforcement, The Cancer Factory exposes the sometimes deadly risks too many workers face.
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The Cancer Factory is the book Jim Morris was meant to write, the culmination of decades of dogged reporting on the slow-motion disaster of occupational disease. Morris deftly weaves together a shameful history of corporate deception, regulatory failures, and political cowardice with an intimate accounting of the devastating consequences for workers. He writes with restrained outrage of the damning evidence he has unearthed and with deep empathy for the mechanics, technicians, stonecutters, lawyers, physicians, and scientists pressing for justice. By illuminating a dark corner of American industry—one that receives far too little attention, even as laborers continue to die from long-known hazards while facing an onslaught of novel poisons—Morris has done a great public service.
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Chris Hamby, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter for the New York Times and author of Soul Full of Coal Dust