Benzene Cancer News

February 7, 2005

Chicago-area woman fighting to make a benzene cancer connection

Premcor, formerly owned by Clark Refining & Marketing, once operated on 170 acres near Blue Island in Illinois. The refining operations were ceased in January 2001, but the company was cited by the state for dozens of environmental violations and is still involved in a lengthy cleanup that is mandated by the state of Illinois. Many of the violations involved leaks of benzene, which is known as a human carcinogen.

Benzene has been linked with aplastic anemia and leukemia in workplace studies, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In April 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state announced a $6.25 million settlement with Premcor for “violations of several environmental laws.”

Premcor violated the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning, Community Right-To-Know Act, according to a Department of Justice statement. In January 2004, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a complaint against Premcor citing 64 violations since 1992. Many of the violations involved benzene leaks at various levels from undisclosed amounts to 20,000 barrels.

Experts have found the chemical benzene can cause a range of anemias and cancers of the bone marrow and blood. One Illinois woman, Tricia Krause, has made it her mission to find evidence supporting her suspicion that Premcor polluted the environment in surrounding communities and sickened residents. For five years, Krause has been collecting information through word of mouth, friends in the cancer care community, neighbors and newspaper obituaries to count the number of cancer cases in a seven-mile radius of the refinery.

Though no lawyers have taken on Krause's case, she has organized a community meeting in an effort to identify more cases and continue her fight. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, and can be caused by chronic exposure to benzene. Benzene is produced naturally by volcanoes and forest fires, and is also found in cigarette smoke, gas stations, industrial emissions, car exhaust and glues, paint, furniture wax and detergent, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

If you have been exposed to benzene while at work and are now suffering serious health conditions such as such as acute myelogenous leukemia, please Contact a Benzene Lawyer .