A new study may solve the question of whether the chemicals at a Pratt and Whitney plant are causing cancer clusters in its workers. The results from the first phase of the multi-year study.

Widow Carol Shea says "everyone is very anxious to find out what the first results will be."

Carol Shea has long suspected a cancer cluster from Pratt and Whitney. While working as a machinist in North Haven in 1999, her husband john was diagnosed with the rare brain cancer, glioblastoma. His friend and co-worker came down with the same illness, months later. Both died in 2000.

Carol Shea says "doctors at the hospital said this is not normal. So we started looking into it."

She formed the group "Worked to Death" and says they documented nearly 200 cases of brain tumors in Pratt workers. In 2001, Pratt and Whitney agreed to fund an independent study, covering cases from its 7 Connecticut plants. Four are now closed.

Doctor Jonathan Sporn is a medical oncologist at the Saint Francis Cancer Center. He says malignant brain cancers are rare, only about 20,000 cases in the U.S. every year.

Dr. Sporn says "these tumors are difficult to treat because they aren't detected until they've grown considerably, and because of the difficulty of doing surgery on brain cancer.

After a long fight, families of Pratt and Whitney workers are hoping for answers.

Carol Shea says "I'm hoping they will eventually come up with at least something to help in the future to change the way the companies deal with the chemicals. Someone's got to do it."