[CPEO-BIF] Mattel to maintain a local presence

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Oregon
PORTLAND TRIBUNE
Mattel to maintain a local presence
Keeping office open to help with health study is 'the right thing'
By Ben Jacklet
Issue date: Tue, Sep 2, 2003

Mattel Corp. plans to maintain its Portland office through next year to
deal with lingering issues about water pollution at a now-closed
Beaverton View-Master factory.

While the $5 billion toy giant has not made View-Masters locally for
years, Mattel will maintain a local presence to assist with a
long-awaited health study, said Dan Nottage, general manager of Mattel
Portland, which bought the plant in 1997.

Five years ago, the cancer-causing solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE,
was discovered in the factory's drinking water at 300 times the U.S.
government's allowable level. Investigations found that workers for the
plant's previous owner had dumped TCE on the grounds during the 1960s
and '70s, and the solvent drained down and contaminated the aquifer. The
use of TCE was discontinued in 1981, but the pollution went undetected
for years because chemical tests required by law were not performed.

Many former workers and their families have health problems, on which
they blame the bad water. Some hold out hope that their questions will
be answered with an in-depth health study. They've accused Mattel of
attempting to delay such a study, but Nottage says the opposite is true.

"We're trying to prompt the federal government to do a scientific,
independent health study to clear up the confusion that exists regarding
TCE," Nottage said. "Mattel has an intense interest in doing the right
thing here."

Mattel recently took several steps to support the study.

Mattel's Executive Vice President, Thomas A. Debrowski, formally
requested federal funding for the health study in a July 31 letter to
the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta.

Nottage sent off two other letters on the same day. One was to the state
health department, pledging support for the study. The other was to the
IRS, requesting records for approximately 7,000 employees, to provide
researchers with more information about who worked at the plant and
when.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=20030

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