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Show E8 The Salt Lake Tribune BUSINESS Sunday, January 24, 1999 A Mystery No One Can Solve: What Caused the Brain Tumors? Was it one chemical or a combination? Amocolab scientists want to know BY SHARON COHEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NAPERVILLE,Ill. — Thebrilliantscientist knew he was dying, his brain was undersiege, but he wanted to make his mind work. So he wouldretreatto his woodpaneled basement, decorated with photos of the sun-bleached buildings of his native Greece, and composelists on both sides of lined notebook paper. Helisted hundredsof opera re- cordings he had collected. Verdi, Wagner, Mozart and many more. Helisted restaurants he dined atin his world travels. His favorite was in Lyon, France. Andhelisted chemicals he had mixed and measured. He had han- dled almost every element on the periodic table, from aluminum to zinc, in his long career. Asthescientist wrote, a tumor ballooned in his head, squeezing his brain, tormenting his body and mind. He beganlimping. He stum- bled once, then twice. His memory faded. He began fumbling for words. Andhis lists began overlapping. Chemicals showed up on pages of operas, and vice versa. “Nick Karayannis’ brain was betraying him, and he thought he knew why. He suspected it was connected to his years as a research chemist at Amoco Corp. Workers in the same building wherehe had conducted groundbreaking experiments had developed brain cancer. He didn’t think it was coincidence. Neither did his son, Marios, a lawyerspecializing in personal injury cases. So he took on a new tions to study ventilation. Soon, Amoco will receive the results of its most exhaustive study: the final report from a twoyearinvestigation by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of AlabamaBirmingham. Last October, those investiga- tors confirmed their earlier find- ings: that the malignant tumors seemed more than a randomcan- cer cluster. But Amoco emphasizes that’s not proof. “What we havebeen able to do is establish a pattern with the brain cancers that suggests the possibility of a work relationship,” Wells says. Though investigators have yet to declare a culprit, attorneysalready are pointingfingers. Nine lawsuits allege workers were exposed to numerous neurotoxins — elements that poison the central nervous system — hecause of inadequate ventilation and lax safety. “Amoco was exposing its employees for 25 years to toxic chemicals and did nothing about it,” claims Grant Dixon, a lawyer representing six formerworkers, three of whomare dead. “Since the building opened, 503 had a number of problems which have never been adequately fixed. Ventilation is the heart of the whole case.” Amocosaysit always respond- brain cancers in the same place were “a true curiosity but ... a @ Chronology blind alley.” A chronology of the brain-tumor mystery and related developments at the Amoco Research Center: 1989: 1998: @ In October, the UAB and Johns Hopkins investigators confirm “the unusual pattern of brain cancer’ among several workers from Building 503. The ratesareeight times that of the general population. They don’t find a pattern or possible cause of the benign tumors, but note a higher-than-expected number of Schwannomas. They say it may be due to aggressive screening. problem, you would expect the carcinogen would have gone throughthe entire building as op- posed to having been limited to the third floor and perhaps the second floor,” adds Jim Lowry, Nick Karayannis endured four operations, chemotherapyandradiation. He never complained. “So strong,” Sashasays, tightly cancer. He, too, had worked on the third floor. His namewas Nick Karayannis. The Embodiment of Evil: It was October 1995 and Nick Karayannis was vacationing, reading at poolside in Florida. He put his book down and looked up. “Nikos, what’s wrong with you?” askedhis wife, Sasha. Heflicked his fingers under his chin, signaling he could not answer. When paramedics arrived he spoke in Greek. Later, he asked forhis soccerball, as if he From Augustuntil December, nine lawsuits are filed on behalf of current or former workers. Several are dead. werea little boy. Doctors said he may havesuf- @The Federal Trade Commission approves a $53 billion mergerof British Petroleum Co. and AmocoCorp. 1999: @ Investigators set to deliver final report about brain tumors in the spring. Sasha had already noticed changesin her husband’s person- — The Associated Press odors or other “If there was a ventilation pretty much accepted what was lab less than a year — andthelatency period for brain cancer is muchlonger. Amoco,urged to closely monitor health conditions, began recordingall brain tumors. a man who was popular and admired, was diagnosed with brain 1989-1996: ™@ Amoco monitors all brain tumors. Eight people develop three kinds of benign tumors: meningiomas, Schwannomas and pituitary adenomas. BA retired Amoco chemist, Nicholas Karayannis, develops a glioma. Amoco hires the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) and Johns Hopkins University researchers. They begin a two-year study. nosed in 1989 had worked in the Until February 1996, there weresix — all beni; Then a retired Amoco chemist, Illinois-Chicago and the Chicago Institute of NeuroSurgery & NeuroResearchto investigate. The conclusion: The cluster of brain tumors is curious, but there is no workplace connection. ed quickly to complaints of foul ated problems and notes jnvestigators have discounted this as a likely source of tumors. One reason: The two men diag- @ Two Amocoresearchers in building 503 develop gliomas, a brain cancer. A records search reveals a third workerin the samelab had the samekind of tumorin 1986. @ Amocoestablishes a brain-cancertask force. Amocoasks experts from Mayo Clinic, the University of head of Amoco’s brain cancer task force. Amoco’s first sign something was amiss came from the third floor of building 503. In 1989, two researchers who worked in lab 3327 were diagnosed with glio- mas within a month. A records check unearthed a third glioma in 1986 in the same The lab’s plumbing, walls and ceilings were torn apart. Nothing was found. Amoco called in medical ex- perts. A consultant’s epidemiological report concluded the three Red flags went up. fered a small stroke or had too much sun. ality: He poured coffee into his wine glass. He drove toofast. He debated animatedly about polities, a topic he hated. A changein life, she thought. inevitable.” grippinga tissue,tilting her head back to stem the tears. Once, she recalls, they sat in the hospital where he and some children awaited treatment. “Remember, we've had the most beautiful life,” he said, grasping the hand of the woman he had metas child on the Greek island of Skopelos. “You should feel sorry for these kids. They didn’t havea life. I fulfilled my life.” And whata life it was. Nick Karayannis listened to opera, read and watched his beloved White Sox — simultaneously. He bowled, danced, swam, played bridge and soccer. He spoke Greek, English and French, along with someItalian and German. Heread in foreign languagesto stay fresh. Hefilled his shelves with Greek tragedies, Pirandello plays, volumesof Stravinsky ballets and Gauguin paintings, the works of Victor Hugo, James Joyce, George Bernard haw. Nick Karayannis held 29 U.S. patents. He wrote 225 scientific papers. He lectured in Russia, France, China, Brazil and Aus- Then three months later, Nick Karayannis collapsed. Doctors found a walnut-sized lab. can squeeze four to six years out ofit.’ I don’t know whether he believed thator not. Once I had educated myself on what he had, I brain tumor. It was a grade IV glioblastoma multiforme, which usually is a death sentence, Most peoplelive less than three years. “He accepted it,” recalls his son, Marios. “He said, ‘Maybe I tralia. He seemed unstoppable. Ten days after his surgery, his headstill bandaged, he attended a 54-hour opera, part of Wagner's “Ring” cycle. But the tumor — a malignancy See Next Page client: his father. Nick Karayannis would never makeit to court. When he died last February, his son pushed on. He hadn't known what his fa- ther was writing during those fi- Wecleared nal months, so he wasn't sure whatto makeofit “He never said, ‘I composed a list. Here are all the chemicals I've worked with,’ ’ Marios Kar- up wireless. ayannissays. Maybeit was just a mental ex. ercise. But maybe it was something more The Sprint PCS Free & Clear Plan gives Could Nick Karayannis have been taking inventory, trying to you free longdistance andclear figure out if one chemical, or a combination, had somehowpoi- soned him? His son will never know calling anytime, anywhere. “But knowing his personality,” he says, ‘I suspect it was exactly that.” For aslittle as $29.99 a month, you get 120 minutes goodfor A Mystery in the Building: The Amoco Research Center, a both local and long-distance pastoral campus of brick buildings in Naperville, 30 miles west of the oil giant's Chicago headquarters, is a hub of invention This arm of research and devel- calling onour nationwide network opment has brought Amocobil- No contract required and lions of dollars over the years with developments that include the raw material for making poly- First Incoming Minute Free used in car lights, for worry-freecalling. and milk cartons. Manycamefromthe500 build- ing complex, center of chemical research + Includesfeatures like Now that complex — particularly building 503 — is at the heart of a medical mystery that is tragic and frustrating and, after a Voicemail and Caller |D that decade,still unsolved Since 1989, 20 center workers work the same way wherever Introducing have been diagnosed with benign yougo on our network. The Sprint PCS Free & Clear Plan” and malignant brain tumors, 14 worked in the 500 complex The seven with brain cancer — with free long distance. all men — were in that complex, five in building 503, All were Amocoveterans, working on simi Sprint PCS built the only 100%digital, 100% PCS nationwide lar projects from thelate 1970s to the mid 1980s. network fromthegroundupfor Four, including Nick Karayan- ni are already dead ‘he malignant tumorsareglio- a newlevel ofclarity. mas, a cancer of the cells that in Hear thedifference today. sulate the nerves of the brain Thegliomaratein building 503 is eight times the national aver age; seven per 100,000peoplede. velop the tumor each year Amocohas spent millions investigating and hiring experts to de- termine what in the workplace caused these tumors. =}Sprint. Sprint PCS’ The clear alternative to cellular. “We've doneeverything we can to take theplace apart andget to the bottom of what's going on here," says Mike Wells, Amoco’s epidemiologist. ‘So little is known aboutbrain cancer and tu mors, trying to understand is a very difficult thing.” We'retrying to put together a puzzle,” he adds, “and we don't even have a picture of what it looks like. Amoco has studied the air, water and soil, digging 30 feet deep to make sure the building was not atopa toxic dump, It has checked for radiation, poked into drain traps and ventilation hoods Experts even installed life-size mannequins with nose and mouth sensors to test vapors. 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