ARTICLE: More Workers File Lawsuits Over Popcorn Flavoring

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Dozens of plant workers who claim their health was damaged by exposure to a chemical used to give a buttery flavor to microwave popcorn have filed lawsuits in Cincinnati against makers of the flavoring.

At least 43 workers have filed lawsuits that claim their lungs were damaged by inhaling fumes from the chemical. Some work at a local plant of Givaudan (ZHIV'-uh-dahn) Flavors Corp. of Cincinnati, which supplies the flavoring to food manufacturers. Many others are from a plant in Marion, Ohio, owned by ConAgra Foods, which is based in Omaha, Neb.

Last month, a jury awarded $7.5 million to Ronald Kuiper of Sioux City and against Givaudan. The verdict came a day after the man died.

Kuiper filed suit in 2006 against four companies that made popcorn flavoring used at the American Pop Corn Co., where he worked. The Sioux City company wasn't named in the lawsuit and the other cases were resolved earlier.

As if that wasn't scary enough, last year a man settled a lawsuit (favorably) against a popcorn maker after contracting "popcorn lung." But he wasn't a worker at a large popcorn factory--he was a consumer making microwave popcorn!

Yikes.