Cancer from where you worked — and the fix so it stops happening.

Seven steps, in order

A surviving spouse or an adult child can do every one of these. Nothing here requires a lawyer first.

1. 1

   Write down the work history

   Employer, plant, department, job titles, shifts, years, and anything you remember handling by name. A surviving spouse or child can do this — it does not have to be perfect to be useful.

   You, or any family member

2. 2

   Pull the medical record

   Every diagnosis, pathology report, surgery and recurrence. For a parent who has passed, the estate representative can request records and the death certificate.

   Hospitals, oncology, primary care

3. 3

   Pull the employment and exposure record

   Personnel file, union records, workers-comp file, and any industrial-hygiene or air-monitoring reports the employer or a federal health study collected for that plant.

   Employer HR, union local, NIOSH/OSHA records requests

4. 4

   Get screened, then keep getting screened

   Bladder cancer from aromatic amines can appear decades after the last shift. Ask specifically about urine cytology and cystoscopy screening for former plant workers, and about the free medical-monitoring programs tied to your site.

   Your doctor, plus site-specific monitoring programs

5. 5

   Talk to a real toxic-tort lawyer — free

   Consultations in these cases are free and fees come out of a recovery, not your pocket. Ask three questions: have you tried this kind of case, who else at my plant have you represented, and what is the deadline in my state.

   Toxic-exposure / product-liability counsel

6. 6

   Watch the clock

   Statutes of limitation in toxic-exposure cases usually run from discovery of the illness, and wrongful-death clocks are shorter. Do not wait to find out which one applies to you.

   Counsel, same week

7. 7

   Add your story to the map

   With your consent and nothing more than you choose to share, we log site, years and illness so families near the same fenceline can find each other.

   DBATR, with written consent

Where we are looking — starting at home

Niagara first, then every place with the same chemistry. If your site is missing, tell us and it goes on the map.

Fixing the cause, not just the payout

What DBATR asks of every operator, regulator and legislature — the same ask everywhere on earth 🌎.

• Substitute the chemistry. If an aromatic amine has a safer replacement, the replacement is the standard — not an exposure limit written around a known carcinogen.
• Lifetime screening funded by the operator, for workers and fenceline neighbors, whether or not anyone sues.
• Plain-language notice in the mail when a study finds elevated risk at your plant or in your water — not a press release nobody reads.
• Independent monitoring with published raw data, on a public dashboard, updated continuously.
• Cleanup on a calendar with penalties that grow, so delay stops being the cheapest option.
• Family benefits that survive the worker — spouses and children do not lose coverage the day of the funeral.
• The same protection at every plant on earth. Moving the hazard offshore is not a safety program.