CLEVELAND -- New questions are surfacing about cancer cases at NASA Glenn Research Center and how long the problem may have existed.

NewsChannel5's Autumn Ziemba spoke with NASA retirees and spouses of employees who died of cancer decades ago after working in the development engineering building.

It's the same building where at least 40 people have been diagnosed with cancer, but now these people are wondering if there was a problem, how long did it exist?

Judy Szabo's husband, Steve, was diagnosed with multiple myloma in 1991 at age 49. He died a year later.

Steve, who was NASA's director of engineering, worked at the same building where union officials say close to 40 workers have been diagnosed with cancer.

Virginia Cantwell, president of IFPTE Local 28, claims there's a history in the building that's being ignored and she wants to see test results.

"The retirees are telling me -- and these are even some management officials -- that there were concerns way back to the 80s and there were never any answers provided," Cantwell said.

Tom Hartline, NASA's directory of safety and mission assurance said there was testing done in the 1980s concerning runoff from the airport, but he said it was done by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"So we don't have any specific information, but we were never told by them that there was ever any health concerns due to the runoff for employees at Glenn Research Center," Hartline said.

Hartline said NASA doesn't have those test results to make public, but said they will examine any possibility if they get the necessary information.

Szabo said preventing one more family from losing a loved one to cancer is worth another look.

"With NASA being into research, isn't this an opportunity for them to find out why, if possible?" she said.

Hartline said the difficulty in investigating these concerns is the fact that they cannot legally ask employees about their medical conditions, so NASA officials continue to circulate confidential surveys.

Hartline said they will now make an effort to make the surveys available to both NASA retirees and former employees.