After spending nearly a decade working at an Ohio popcorn factory, Kathryn Rayburn developed an incurable lung disease. Doctors say her lung capacity is just a third of what it's supposed to be because of her workplace exposure to a butter flavoring called diacetyl. Rayburn, 48, faces off in a Cincinnati courtroom today against makers of the flavorings she believes hurt her lungs. At the same time, the Obama administration is kick-starting a long-stalled effort to develop workplace standards for the food ingredient that federal officials have linked to lung damage when it is inhaled.

Similar lung-damage lawsuits have been filed on behalf of dozens of Rayburn's former co-workers at a ConAgra plant in Marion that makes Act II and Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn. The lawsuits say that Cincinnati-based Givaudan Flavors Corp. and New York-based International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. -- which sold the butter flavorings to ConAgra -- knew their products caused lung problems but didn't warn anyone about hazards.

Rayburn's will be the first diacetyl case to go to trial in Ohio. Last month, a federal jury in Iowa awarded $7.5 million to a former Sioux City popcorn worker who died from his lung condition the day before the verdict was delivered. Previous diacetyl cases in Ohio were resolved through confidential settlements with the flavor manufacturers. David Egilman, an associate professor of public health at Brown University who has published a medical journal paper titled " Popcorn-worker Lung Caused by Corporate and Regulatory Negligence: An Avoidable Tragedy," says eight of Givaudan's Cincinnati-area workers got diagnoses of the disease -- known as bronchiolitis obliterans -- by 1996, and at least one died from it. He says the company tried to cover up the problem, and he predicts Rayburn's trial will let Cincinnati-area doctors know they should look out for chronic respiratory problems in current and former Givaudan workers who might not realize they have bronchiolitis obliterans. "It's a shame they didn't test these products before they put them on the market, and it's a shame the government isn't protecting workers and consumers from food additives that have killed and seriously injured workers," says Egilman, who is scheduled to testify as a witness on Rayburn's behalf.

Learn more about diacetyl popcorn flavoring dangers and butter flavoring injury lawsuits.