For eight years, researchers have conducted a massive study of brain cancer deaths at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and more information will be released on Thursday.
The $12 million study on a possible brain cancer cluster was launched in 2002 and includes almost 224,000 current and former workers.
Results released in September 2008 showed that cancer death rates at Pratt & Whitney were the same or lower than in Connecticut and the U.S.
The information presented today is from the second of three phases, according to a spokeswoman at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which has done the study. It looks specifically at reports of central nervous system tumors.
University of Pittsburgh researchers also will compare cancer rates among workers at Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., with the general population and determine if specific types of brain tumors are related to workplace factors.
The third phase is expected later this year.
