IBM Endicott Health Study Shows Mixed Results

A study of the health of former IBM Endicott employees is largely inconclusive. 

For a long time there has been talk of an high incidence of cancer in IBM employees in Broome county but a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study found that the total number of deaths from all causes and all cancers were lower than what would be expected in the general population but deaths from specific cancers including Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Mesothelioma, and rectal and testicular cancers were more frequent.

The five year study looked at the health of 34,494 employees who worked at the Endicott site between 1969 and 2001.

While the report tracked cancers and nervous system diseases, the study did not link any disease to specific exposures to substances like trichloroethylene, which is an industrial solvent that had been used at the IBM complex from the 1960s into the mid 1980s.

A public meeting to discuss the NIOSH findings is set for January 23^rd at 6:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Endicott.