Mass. Court Rejects Testimony Linking Benzene to Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

BOSTON -- A Massachusetts federal court has granted a defense objection to the testimony of a benzene plaintiff's general causation expert, finding that the theories advanced by Dr. Martyn Smith were "at best a plausible hypothesis." Milward, et al. v. Acuity Specialty Products, et al., No. 07-11944 (D. Mass.).

In the July 31 opinion, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts found that Dr. Smith's efforts to link benzene exposure to acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) failed because they were not supported by current scientific knowledge.

"While Dr. Smith's hypotheses are, to use his term, 'plausible,' they remain …