Cover Letter

Cover letter:

Example cover letter that would be sent with the survey. The cover letter is meant to inform the worker that they were in a study, what the study found, and where to go to get more information. It does not comment on the survey tool itself.

Dear _____,

You are receiving this letter because our records show you worked for more than one day at the Goodyear Plant in ___,New York. In 2013, we finished a study of workers from this plant. Those in our study worked at Goodyear between 1946 and 2006. This letter contains important health information we felt you should know. You may have gotten information from us in the past about studies at Goodyear that we finished in 1988 and 2000. In these past studies, we noted concerns for bladder cancer and heart disease among workers.

What you should know

In this most recent study, we found some additional health concerns we felt were important for you to know. Though we found some health outcomes that were increased and are thought to be job-related, there are steps you can take to reduce your chance of illness or better ensure early detection.

What we found

We looked at (x) different types of cancers and illnesses to find out if there are any increased illnesses among workers compared to the United States general population. Among everything we looked, the following were increased and we feel could be a concern for workers:

• Looking at causes of death among workers, we found:

  • Coronary artery disease (CAD) was still increased, but mostly among those who worked at the site for less than 90 days.

  • Hepatobilary cancer was higher among workers exposed to vinyl chloride in the early years and among those exposed to vinyl chloride for more than 16 years.

  • Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) was increased among workers.

  • Brain and pancreatic cancer were increased slightly, but not significantly as the other cancers were; we do not feel brain or pancreatic cancer are a concern at this time. We know these cancers were a concern among the union.

• We were able to look at cancer diagnosis, not just deaths, for bladder cancer. We found bladder cancer was still higher among the workers. It was highest among the workers definitely exposed to o-toluidine, aniline, and nitrobenzene. This indicates that exposure to o-toluidine is associated with bladder cancer.

To learn more details about our study and the results, please visit our website: www.cdc.gov/niosh/____ or call 513-841-4343 to request a hard copy of the additional information.

What you can do

We are sending you this because there are things you can do to address the health problems we found. We cannot reduce past exposures, but we hope to better ensure your health by making you and your doctor aware of these possible health problems. If you currently work with these materials, be sure to follow safe work practice. Learn more ways to lower your exposure on our website: www.cdc.gov/niosh________.

Our studies are based on a group. This means that though we found an increased risk of certain cancers, it does not mean that you will get cancer or another illness. It does however mean that you could be more likely to develop one of these illnesses than someone in the general population. We want you to share this information with your doctor to be sure your doctor can monitor you properly. There is a benefit to early detection; in many cases, such as bladder cancer, there is a high survival rate when treated early. We have also been told that Goodyear offers a free medical screening program to current and former workers. Learn more by calling: or visit: ___company website___.

If you would like to learn more about our study please visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/...... or call 513-841-4343 if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Amy Mobley