A Kentucky woman is suing, claiming long-term exposure to pollution from local chemical plants caused her liver cancer.
In a lawsuit filed in Marshall Circuit Court, Calvert City resident Rhonda Fratzke alleges that the Westlake and former Goodrich chemical operations released cancer-causing substances and led to her illness, WPSD Local 6 reported.
According to the outlet, the filing outlines that Fratzke lived near the Westlake chemical complex and an incineration facility between 1989 and 1997. Later, she was diagnosed with hepatic angiosarcoma, a cancer the lawsuit describes as strongly associated with vinyl chloride and known in the medical community as the chemical's "signature tumor."
According to the suit, the facilities emitted vinyl chloride and ethylene dichloride, or EDC, into neighborhoods for decades.
The complaint also contends that the companies minimized both the scale of the emissions and the dangers associated with them, "including through a private fenceline air-monitoring program for vinyl chloride and EDC whose results were never disclosed to regulators or Calvert City residents," according to WPSD.
As support for its claims, the lawsuit cites federal air-monitoring data that found elevated community cancer risk in the area.
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Attorney Mark Bryant, who is representing Fratzke, said the lawsuit is intended to pressure companies to do better, not close.
"What we are trying to do is get Westlake to clean up their act over there, not pull out of that plant — that's a huge, I mean, a huge taxpayer, and they hire lots of people," Bryant said, according to the local news.
He also said he hopes anyone else who suspects they have been similarly harmed through chemical exposure will come forward.
"We're hoping that nobody else has it, because it's a horrible disease, but if anybody does, I hope they'll pick up the phone, and let's talk about it."
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