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CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A jury has awarded a Colorado man $7.2 million after he was diagnosed with ‘microwave popcorn lung' from eating two bags of popcorn a day for 10 years.
Wayne Watson, 59, was granted the award last week against Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., the Kroger Co. and Dillon Companies, according to KREX TV in Grand Junction.
Doctors at National Jewish Hospital in Denver in 2007 diagnosed Watson with bronchiolitis obliterans, or "microwave popcorn lung," after Watson's lung capacity was reduced by 60 percent over the course of a decade. Watson said he believes his illness was caused by inhaling the fumes from the popcorn.
The fumes that are said to have caused the disease are from dicetyl, a compound that has since been removed from microwave popcorn and that has been tied to the same illness in popcorn-factory workers.
"It's kind of a weird story isn't it? A guy gets sick by breathing in the toxic fumes of diacetyl that is on butter-flavored microwave popcorn in the sanctity of his own kitchen," Watson told CBS Denver.
Attorneys for the Kroger Co. and Dillon Companies said they plan to appeal the decision.
