A Boston University professor who used IBM records to track cancer deaths among workers in San Jose, Calif., told Endicott residents Tuesday there is worldwide interest in a similar study proposed by federal officials for workers at the Endicott plant.

Richard Clapp, professor of environmental health and a national authority on chemical exposure, encouraged employees and advocates to work with scientists from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to develop the study.

The plan calls for using 28,000 IBM personnel records and cancer registry data to determine whether Endicott employees suffered disproportionately from cancer. The outcome could lead to knowledge necessary for safer manufacturing practices, Clapp said.

"People around the world watch this," said Clapp, speaking to between 40 and 50 people at the First United Methodist Church on McKinley Avenue in Endicott.

He reviewed his own study, part of a 2002 lawsuit against IBM claiming deaths related to toxic exposure on the job in San Jose. His data showed workers suffered significantly elevated deaths from "cancers consistent with solvent exposure," including kidney cancer, brain cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

While IBM prevailed in court, Clapp's study was published in Environmental Health, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and has led to continued interest in the subject.

IBM did not cooperate with the Clapp study -- based on a "mortality file" documenting employees who received death benefits -- until the court ordered that the document be turned over. Advocates of the Endicott study should expect the same resistance, he added.

NIOSH -- being a federal agency working on behalf of the general public -- is better positioned to leverage cooperation, he said. Although the agency has the legal authority to subpoena records, "the whole thing could come to a halt" in the face of stiff IBM resistance, he added.

"Every step of the way is a battle," he said. "I would urge you to make sure there is some way NIOSH uses its legal authority to get the information it needs."

Ari Fishkind, a spokesman for IBM, could not be reached Tuesday evening. In the past, he has said IBM is cooperating with NIOSH.

In a report examining the feasibility of the Endicott study, NIOSH officials raised the possibility of IBM resistance preventing a comprehensive study.