Toxic Honeywell plant slated to close, but leaves behind toxic legacy
The 60-year-old Honeywell plant in Kansas City, Missouri is closing its doors, and the company is moving to a new $673 million facility. Honeywell has already paid $65 million to clean up the site, but according to the U.S. Department of Labor, its workers have already been exposed to 785 toxic substances.
One of those workers is Tony Ross, a Vietnam War veteran who worked at the plant, known as the Bendix plant at the time, first as a janitor, later making non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons. Now retired at the age of 65, Ross is suffering the effects of asbestosis and chronic bronchitis from his exposure to the toxic materials he worked with. Asbestosis is a scarring of the lung tissue caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. Asbestos fibers can also cause a rare form of cancer called mesothelioma. Ross also handled beryllium with his bare hands, another known carcinogen.
Mack Roberts was another worker at the plant, hired in 1968 as a custodian. Wearing his street clothes, he used to clean up a mixture of methylene and chloroaniline that was found to be a carcinogen by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1973. Two years ago, Roberts was diagnosed with chronic lymphomic leukemia.
Dozens of their former coworkers have already died, many from diseases related to their workplace exposure to toxic chemicals. As of November, 643 workers from the Kansas City Plant have sought compensation, but only 172 of their claims have been paid so far. There are thousands of other former workers who are eligible for free medical screenings to determine whether or not they were harmed by the hazardous materials they worked with.
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