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 26 lawsuits here cite chemical that plant discharged into river
COLUMBUS — “High levels of C8 have been found in water supplies near the plant along the Ohio River, and residents of the area have been fighting with DuPont about the contamination for more than a decade.
A science panel set up as the result of a class-action lawsuit concluded that there is a probable link between the chemical, also called perfluorooctanoic acid, and a number of health issues. They include testicular and kidney cancers, pregnancy-induced hypertension, thyroid disease, high cholesterol and ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease.
Those conclusions, made in the past two years, led to lawsuits against DuPont in December in state courts. The cases were moved to federal court this month at DuPont’s request.”
— Kathy Lynn Gray, Columbus Dispatch
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CHARLESTON, WV — “There are two new studies out this week that raise more questions about the dangers of DuPont Co.’s chemical, C8.
First, there’s this paper published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, concluding:
This study suggests an association between PFC exposure and juvenile asthma. Due to widespread exposure to these chemicals, these findings may be of potential public health concern.
Then, there’s this paper, also published yesterday in that same journal:
This study suggests that higher PFOA serum levels may be associated with testicular, kidney, prostate, and ovarian cancers and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Strengths of this study include near-complete case ascertainment for state residents, and well characterized contrasts in predicted PFOA serum levels from 6 contaminated water supplies.”
— Ken Ward Jr., The Charleston Gazette
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ATHENS — “A personal injury lawsuit filed in Athens County against a local manufacturing company moved to federal court last month.
The lawsuit, filed by an Athens resident, John Wright, against DuPont, a chemical manufacturing company, was moved to the federal court on Dec. 27.
DuPont owns and operates the Washington Works Plant, a manufacturing facility in Wood County, W. Va. A 2001 lawsuit filed against the plant accused DuPont of releasing C8, a toxic used in making Teflon, into the Ohio River, according to court documents.”
— Marika Lee, The Post
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 DuPont Co. will have to fund up to $235 million to help provide early detection of diseases linked to exposure to C8 from the company’s nearby Washington Works plant. CHARLESTON, WV — “A panel investigating the potential dangers of C8 has concluded that exposure is probably linked to high cholesterol in humans, adding to the list of health impacts from the DuPont Co. chemical.
The C8 Science Panel’s latest finding adds to the conclusions of the group, which had previously reported a ‘probable link’ between C8 exposure and five other diseases: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and dangerous high blood pressure among pregnant women.
The findings, expected to be released today during a press conference outside Parkersburg, are the latest results from a six-year study of the DuPont chemical.”
— Ken Ward, Jr., Charleston Gazette
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 PARKERSBURG, WV — “Children living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study.
Children under 5, who are exposed from drinking water as well as their mothers’ breast milk, had 44 percent more of the chemical in their blood than their moms. The study was undertaken by a court-approved panel of three scientists who have spent seven years trying to determine whether the DuPont chemical is making people sick in the Mid-Ohio Valley.
The chemical is perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA, also known as C8, and it is used in the manufacture of Teflon nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, food packaging and other products.
Nearly everyone worldwide has traces of perfluorinated chemical in their bodies. But people near the DuPont plant have extraordinary levels of PFOA – about seven times more than the U.S. average – because the compound, used at the plant since 1951, has contaminated drinking water supplies.
The scientists studied 49,943 child-mother pairs who drank water for at least one year in communities near the plant where water wells were known to contain PFOA.”
— Maria Cone, Environmental Health News
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 PARKERSBURG, WV — “There is a link between C8 exposure and human disease, according to the C8 Science Panel who released their first set of probable link findings this week. The panel determined that there is a link between exposure to PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
This is significant because the development triggers the next phase of settlement in the class action lawsuit brought by Mid Ohio Valley residents against DuPont over the presence of the manmade chemical in several public water supplies. DuPont has used C8 for more than fifty years at Washington Works near Parkersburg, W.Va., in the manufacture of Teflon and many other consumer applications.
The panel’s determination was based on data from the C8 Health Project and four related studies which identified more than 3,000 cases of pregnancy-induced hypertension in exposed populations. Similarly, a link was detected between C8 exposure and preeclampsia.”
— Callie Lyons, The Anchor News
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 MARIETTA — “The US EPA has proposed regulations for public water systems that would require testing for C8 or PFOA and other perfluorochemicals. The agency plans to set the reporting level for C8 at 0.02 parts per billion.
C8, also known as PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid, has been found in local water supplies as the result of industrial activity at DuPont Washington Works where the substance is used to make Teflon and hundreds of other applications. The discovery of the manmade substance in local drinking water was the subject of a class action lawsuit brought against DuPont by residents on both sides of the river and an ongoing landmark exposure study involving nearly 70,000 people, which was initiated to determine the outcome of the suit.”
— Callie Lyons, callielyons.blogspot.com
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 PARKERSBURG, WV — “Before it can complete the current portion of its study, the C8 Science Panel needs participants to respond for a follow up interview.
Monday, Dr. Kyle Steenland, a member of the science panel determining whether there’s a link between C8 and human disease, held a conference in Vienna.
Dr. Steenland is asking the people who were interviewed in 2009 to call in for a second interview.
‘There’s also a group we were never able to find for the first round of interviews and so, you can still do your first round interview. So, there’s some catch up there we can also do,’ says Dr. Kyle Steenland, Member of the C8 Science Panel.”
— WTAP News
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— Brett Dunlap, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, WV — “Children and teens exposed to higher amounts of the toxic chemical C8 appear to be more likely to have elevated cholesterol levels, according to a landmark new study published by researchers from West Virginia University.
The study also found that some increases in cholesterol may occur at exposure levels in the range of those found in the general U.S. population…
DuPont Co. has used the chemical since the 1950s at its Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg. C8 is a processing agent used to make Teflon and other nonstick products, oil-resistant packaging and stain-resistant textiles. While industry has promised to phase out C8 and some related chemicals, scientists are still concerned that exposures continue from chemicals already emitted and distributed in a wide range of consumer products.”
— Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette
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 MARIETTA — “A study of 22 locations on the Ohio River revealed the DuPont chemical C8 was present in every sample collected along the 981-mile stretch from Pennsylvania to Kentucky.
C8 or PFOA, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid, was found in measurable levels ranging from 35.2 to 2.04 parts per trillion. No sampling was performed near DuPont Washington Works where the chemical has been used for more than 50 years in the manufacture of Teflon.
The highest concentration of the manmade chemical was found in the river near Ravenswood, West Virginia where sampling detected levels of 35.2 parts per trillion. A level of 31.2 parts per trillion was identified near Paducah, Kentucky and a concentration of 19.1 parts per trillion was found near Huntington, West Virginia.”
— Callie Lyons blog
CHARLESTON, WV — “Children exposed to higher levels of C8 are at an increased risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a scientific paper published this week.
The study, by researchers at Boston University and the Harvard School of Public Health, also found higher risks for children exposed to other similar perfluorinated chemicals…
C8 is another name for perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. C8 and other PFCs have been widely used in nonstick coatings, stain-resistant fabrics and food package coatings.”
— Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette
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COLUMBUS — “In researching whether there is a link between cancer cases and C8, an industrial chemical found in Washington County drinking water, Dr. Edward Emmett had no problem getting detailed information from the Ohio Department of Health.
‘There is a process,’ said Emmett, an environmental-health researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. ‘It is a little bit slow, but we didn’t come across any particular barriers.’
Others have. About once or twice a year, state officials deny cancer-data requests from the public in the name of patient privacy.
Last year, when a group of Sandusky County parents asked for records that Ohio Department of Health officials used to investigate a cluster of cancer cases among children in and around Clyde, the agency refused.”
— Spencer Hunt, Columbus Dispatch
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 Dr. Kyle Steenland, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University PARKERSBURG – “A member of the C8 Science Panel was in town Wednesday to announce the next round of follow-up C8 health studies that will begin at the end of April.
Science panelist Dr. Kyle Steenland with the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, stopped in Parkersburg to announce the two follow-up studies to the C8 Health Project to be getting under way at the end of this month.
Steenland earlier met with officials with the West Virginia Cancer Registry in Charleston.
‘We are matching the community and worker cohort to both the Ohio and West Virginia Cancer Registries as well as the National Death Index to get information on cancer or any mortality among cohort members,’ Steenland said.
The studies follow those who lived in the six water districts involved in the C8 class action lawsuit.”
— Pamela Brust, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
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 CINCINNATI — “Nearly two weeks after publicly denying the possibility that C8 could be getting into the drinking water of Cincinnati consumers, officials with Greater Cincinnati Water Works admit that they have observed trace amounts in their post-filtration sampling.
Cincinnati Water Works has been testing water in the Ohio River and their system since 2005. The latest set of sampling results, taken on April 7, 2009, indicate C8 in the Ohio River measured at a concentration of 11 parts per trillion. At the same time, post-filtration water tested at 10 parts per trillion – a marked increase from prior testing which indicated that C8 concentrations were below the limit of detection.”
— Callie Lyons, callielyons.blogspot.com
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CINCINNATI — “In response to elevated levels of C8 detected in the Ohio River at Cincinnati, the US EPA is asking DuPont to perform additional testing to determine more about how the manmade substance travels.
The EPA is trying to learn how DuPont’s C8, also known as PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid, has made it so far away from Washington Works near Parkersburg, West Virginia. The chemical has been used there for more than fifty years to make Teflon and other stain-resistant, nonstick surfaces and applications – hundreds of applications used in thousands of consumer products.
Cincinnati Water Works has been tracking C8 in the river since 2005 when they detected levels of 100 parts per trillion – a number that exceeds the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection health-based action level of 40 parts per trillion,”
— Callie Lyons, WMOA
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