Editor,—We read with interest the article by Loughlin, Rothman, and Dreyer,1 and we write to provide the factual background for the study and additional information that may be of interest to your readers.

The study was commissioned by 17 chemical companies to defend against lawsuits we filed on them on behalf of 14 former students, who attended for two or three years (from 1943 to 1989) Port Neches-Groves High School and who contracted lymphohaematopoietic cancers (Hodgkin's disease, leukaemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma).

Because of the study design, only four of the 14 cases we represent were counted in the study. Seven of the remaining 10 either still are alive or died after the cut off date for determining vital status. Two attended high school before 1963. And the remaining case died of “small cell carcinoma, unknown primary” (probably secondary to …

Dr Loughlin.