Callie Lyons

C8 Science Panel Finds Link to Human Disease

2011-12-06T13:17:00.000-05:00

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.

The panel did not find a probable link between C8 exposure and pregnancy loss, low birth weight, or birth defects.

Dr. David Savitz explained the panel’s findings, calling pregnancy-induced hypertension a “serious complication of pregnancy” and one that is known to increase the risk of preterm birth.

While the condition typically resolves with the birth of the baby, Savitz said women who develop high blood pressure during pregnancy are at an increased risk of having it again with subsequent pregnancies. He said pregnancy-induced hypertension is also a “predictor” of problems later in life.

Even so, Savitz said the number one cause of pregnancy-induced hypertension is obesity, which is something that can be more directly addressed by women of childbearing age. He also encouraged expectant mothers to fully participate in prenatal care - and to follow the advice of their doctors.

The term “probable link” is court terminology, not scientific jargon. Specifically, the C8 Science Panel was appointed for the purpose of determining whether, given the available scientific evidence, there is more likely than not a connection between PFOA exposure and human disease in class members.

As a result of the panel’s findings, a medical panel will be established to determine whether medical monitoring is called for under the terms of the settlement. At the conclusion of the suit, if a “probable link” has been found, the settlement agreement provides for $235 million to be paid out by DuPont for medical monitoring.

The C8 Science Panel is expected to release two more sets of findings before concluding their work in July 2012.

DuPont officials say they do not believe that PFOA causes pregnancy-induced hypertension, but they will move forward with their obligations under the settlement agreement.

“DuPont has committed to no longer make, buy or use PFOA by 2015, or sooner if possible,” company officials said in a statement. “We have made significant progress toward this commitment, including commercializing next-generation offerings that are made without using PFOA, and that cannot break down to PFOA in the environment.”

The company has requested a permit change in order to replace the controversial manufacturing substance. Documents obtained from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection indicate the new substance intended for use in fluoropolymer production is called by the trade name C3. In the permit application, DuPont calls the new technology a “sustainable solution that includes a new processing aid with a favorable toxicological profile and rapid bioelimination”.

Little else is known about the substance. DuPont’s permit, if it is successful, would allow C3 to be discharged into the Ohio River. WVDEP is accepting public comments on the matter until December 26.

Researchers Collaborate on C8 Findings

2011-09-05T17:27:00.001-05:00

Conclusions about data gathered in the C8 Health Project are coming from two primary sources but the relationship between the C8 Science Panel and West Virginia University researchers is described as being more collaborative than competitive in nature.

In recent weeks, media attention has been drawn to study reports on C8 exposure released by two groups of researchers who are working from the same body of data. Dr. Kyle Steenland, one of three members of the C8 Science Panel, says both parties have access to the same database from the C8 Health Project collected in 2005 and 2006. In order to cover a lot of territory and not duplicate each other’s work, the two groups of researchers have made some agreements to work together.

Read the full story at: http://www.theanchornews.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=729:researchers-collaborate-on-c8-findings&catid=1:localpolitical&Itemid=15

WVU Researchers: C8 Linked to Osteoarthritis

2011-09-05T17:25:00.002-05:00

In addition to the release of new information from the C8 Science Panel, researchers at West Virginia University have drawn some of their own conclusions about exposure based on data from the C8 Health Project.

Researchers looked at the incidence of osteoarthritis reported by more adult participants of the health project. Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease, characterized by pain and stiffness that worsen with physical activity.

Read the full story at: http://www.theanchornews.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=708:wvu-researchers-c8-linked-to-osteoarthritis&catid=1:localpolitical&Itemid=15

Panel: C8 Exposure Linked to Liver Function, Preeclampsia

2011-09-05T17:24:00.000-05:00

New findings on C8 exposure have been released as a court appointed Science Panel works toward completion of their investigation into the chemical’s potential for human health effects. The results provide answers to some looming questions about the manufacturing substance known as PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid, which has been used at DuPont Washington Works to produce Teflon since the 1950s.

Read the full story at: http://www.theanchornews.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=709:panel-c8-exposure-linked-to-liver-function-preeclampsia&catid=1:localpolitical&Itemid=15

"Why not sooner?" asks Judge Beane

2011-05-19T14:30:00.001-05:00

A Wood County judge expressed frustration with the C8 Science Panel in a status hearing on Wednesday over the time it is taking for the experts to reach a conclusion in the landmark study of the industrial chemical’s impact on the health of local people.
The science panel is charged with deciding whether or not C8 can be linked to human disease. Their decision will determine the outcome of the class action lawsuit against DuPont over the manmade substance, which is used in the manufacture of Teflon and thousands of other consumer products. After more than fifty years of use at DuPont Washington Works near Parkersburg, W.Va., C8 or PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) was detected in several area water systems – public and private.

Under the terms of the settlement, if C8 is found to be linked to human disease, DuPont will fund a $235 million medical monitoring program for class members.

The settlement agreement was reached in 2004. The following year, the C8 Health Project got underway and by the end of July 2006 the massive project coordinated by Brookmar, Inc. engaged the population and collected nearly 70,000 medical histories and blood samples for the study. The data was turned over to the C8 Science Panel in April 2008. Since that time, the panel of three epidemiologists have been conducting additional sampling, performing follow-up testing, and verifying medical histories to build the body of evidence to reach a “more likely than not” conclusion about the link between C8 and human disease. A final answer is expected next year.

Read the full story:

http://theanchornews.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=581:web-extra-judge-questions-timeline-for-c8-results&catid=1:localpolitical&Itemid=2

EPA Proposes Monitoring, Regulations for C8 (PFOA)

2011-03-04T15:27:00.000-05:00

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.

This week, the EPA proposed the monitoring of 28 chemical contaminants, which are currently not regulated. Every public water system in the nation that serves more than 10,000 people would be required to monitor their supplies for the list of chemicals. The list includes seven hormones, nine volatile organic compounds, one synthetic organic compound, four metals, chlorate, and six perfluorinated chemicals including PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, PFHpA, and PFBS.

It’s estimated that the testing program would cost $14.9 million to implement from 2012 to 2016.

The minimum reporting level for PFOA would be established at 0.02 parts per billion while the reporting level for PFOS (best known as 3M’s Scotchgard chemical) would be set at 0.04 parts per billion.

The EPA will be accepting comments on the proposed rules until May 2. Members of the public may email comments to OW-Docket@epa.gov.

Recent Sampling Reveals PFOA All Along the Ohio River

2010-07-13T08:28:00.001-05:00

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.

The study was performed by ORSANCO (Ohio River Sanitation Commission) in collaboration with the US Environmental Protection Agency in September 2009 to detect a total of 158 compounds considered contaminants of emerging concern, including 118 pharmaceutical and personal care products, 27 hormones and sterols, and 13 perfluorinated compounds.

“The study was designed to generate data as preliminary survey by the Commission and results would be used to guide future actions,” according to the report released in May. “It has been shown that wastewater treatment plants are not currently designed to remove these chemicals to the very low levels, nor are they required by regulatory agencies to do so.”

The provisional health advisory established by the US EPA for PFOA in drinking water is 400 parts per trillion. Though the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has set a more prohibitive drinking water guidance value of 40 parts per trillion.

“There are no state or national water quality standards established for the compounds targeted in this study in U.S. surface waters,” according to ORSANCO.

The locations were targeted for sampling based on their proximity to major urban areas, effluent influence, or because they fell within areas of the river that had relatively few local upstream potential sources.

Marietta is located at Ohio River mile 172. Nearest sampling was performed at Ohio River mile 91.3 and Ohio River mile 220.3 (Ravenswood).

PFOA has been targeted by US EPA for elimination from industrial emissions by 2015 because of its classification as a likely human carcinogen.

PFOA by PPT / Location / Ohio River Mile

35.2 / Ravenswood, WV / 220.3

31.2 / Paducah, KY / 935.9

23.9 / Paducah, KY / 934.4

19.1 / Huntington, WV / 306.8

18.2 / Evansville, IN / 791.8

14.4 / Cincinnati, OH / 478

14.3 / Mill Creek Tributary

14.1 / Manchester, OH / 394.9

13.1 / Cincinnati, OH / 462.9

11.5 / Evansville, IN / 791.5

9.44 /    / 612.2

9.21 / Louisville, KY / 600.5

8.93 / Concord, KY / 889.1

6.22 / Scioto Tributary

5.39 /    / 91.3

3.87 / Monongahela Tributary

3.43 / Wabash Tributary

3.41 /    / 3.1

3.01 /    / 86.7

2.5 /    / 9.7

2.04 / Allegheny Tributary

1.48 / Kanawha Tributary

C8 Exposure Linked to ADHD

2010-06-15T15:19:00.000-05:00

A new study published this week in Environmental Health Perspectives indicates that exposure to C8 may be linked with ADHD in kids aged 12 to 15.

Widely used in consumer products, perfluorochemicals like C8 or PFOA have been linked with several health outcomes in animals and humans.

Scientists recently examined the link between exposure levels and the incidence of attention deficit disorder reported in 51 of 570 kids.

Children with higher PFOA and PFOS exposure levels had a greater likelihood of having ADHD.
Researchers concluded that further study is needed because of the prevalence of these chemicals.

Cincinnati Water Works Comes Clean

2010-04-04T22:05:00.001-05:00

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.

The following statement was provided by Jeff Swertfeger, GCWW Assistant Manager of Water Quality and Treatment Division, on April 1:

"Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) is proud of our state-of-the art water treatment that provides high quality drinking water to our customers. Since 1992, Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) treatment has given us an edge when it comes to treating source water from the Ohio River. The USEPA considers GAC the best treatment technology to remove many contaminants found in the river, including C-8 (PFOA).

GCWW is one of several water utilities in the Greater Cincinnati region that uses the Ohio River as a source. GCWW has been proactive in monitoring for PFOA in the river. Since 2005 the PFOA values in the Ohio River at our location have declined from 100 parts per trillion (ppt) to 11 ppt (detection limit – 10 ppt). The USEPA has set the health advisory for this contaminant at 400 ppt. in drinking water.

We also test the water as it goes through the treatment process. All sample concentrations in the water that had passed through GAC entering into our final treatment processes have been below detection except for one value in 2009. This concentration was at the detection limit of 10 ppt. Our water quality experts believe this is an anomaly since the detection and the river water detection were both at the level of detection of this compound which could yield unreliable results.

Because of the testing that we have do and the lack of detections, we feel very confident that our operational strategy is successful in removing PFOA in our water.

GCWW has always met or exceeded all of the state and federal health standards for drinking water. We will continue to perform an average of 600 tests per day throughout the system to ensure safe drinking water for all of our customers."

C8 in the Ohio River at Cincinnati

2010-03-25T20:59:00.001-05:00

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.

“Sampling in 2005 was triggered by a few issues including the general awareness of C8 compounds such as PFOA to potentially be in the water and the knowledge of DuPont and the situation in southeast Ohio,” said Jeff Swertfeger, Assistant Superintendent of the Water Quality and Treatment Division of Greater Cincinnati Water Works.

According to a March 3 letter from Jim Willis, director of EPA’s Chemical Control Division to DuPont, “the Ohio River is a major drinking water source downstream from the site.”

EPA is pushing DuPont to perform testing that will help them understand the pathway of exposure.

“Greater than 2 million people use the Ohio River as a source of drinking water downstream from the site, and potential exposure to PFOA associated with the site is not known,” Willis said.

Data provided by Cincinnati Water Works indicates that annual sampling has taken place demonstrating a gradual decline of C8 in the water over the past four years. In 2006, levels of 21 parts per trillion were detected in the river. By April 2009 that number had decreased to 11 parts per trillion.

Swertfeger says Cincinnati Water Works did not perform any testing on their finished water.

DuPont officials have yet to respond to the findings.

C8 is bio-accumulative, meaning that it collects in the human body, so even small amounts contribute to elevated exposure. While PFOA has been proven to negatively impact the health of animals, scientists from all over the world are working to determine whether or not C8 can be linked to human disease. US EPA has classified the substance as a “likely carcinogen”.

LHWA Files Suit Against DuPont in Federal Court

2009-12-07T12:32:00.005-05:00

The Little Hocking Water Association has filed a lawsuit against DuPont in U.S. district court over the contamination of the local wellfield and water supplies with the manufacturing substance known as C8.

PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid was detected in the water supply in 2002 after decades of its use in manufacturing processes by neighboring DuPont Washington Works. The suit filed last Monday says the company had knowledge of the contamination and its potential for harm to human health for many years before revealing its findings to the public.

The Little Hocking Water Association was not a party to the class action suit and subsequent settlement filed against DuPont over the contamination of six local water districts. Now the association is asking for a jury trial to determine damages. The rural water provider is also asking for an unadulterated source of water for its customers since its 45 acre wellfield and the aquifer beneath it has been contaminated.

The water association is suing the corporation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

EPA Campaign Features DuPont Driver

2009-11-07T04:02:00.003-05:00

The US Environmental Protection Agency has teamed up with DuPont-sponsored NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon in the race to clean air.

This week the federal agency released a training DVD featuring Gordon to help auto body shops comply with a rule reducing air pollution from vehicle painting.

"This type of pollution, called toxic air emissions, can cause smog, cancer or other serious health effects," according to the EPA.

When asked, the agency provided this explanation as to why the DuPont racer was named as their spokesperson for the clean air campaign.

"EPA rule to reduce air toxics emissions from auto stripping and painting will affect hundreds of auto body shops that have not previously been subject to a federal air quality regulation. In an effort to improve compliance with the rule, we teamed up with several partners, including paint manufacturers, to educate paint shop owners and employees about the new requirements and offer training. The DVD is part of that outreach and training effort," said a statement provided by Dave Ryan, EPA Washington Headquarters Press Officer.

DuPont Automotive Systems is the largest global manufacturer of auto paint and high performance finishes. The company was not named in the press announcement regarding Gordon's involvement and the EPA seemed unable or unwilling to explain who made the decision to use him for the campaign.

"The decision to ask Jeff Gordon to host the training video did not rest on a single person, it was a group effort. We are working with several paint manufacturers (and other industry partners) as part of the overall Collision Repair Campaign. The goal of the campaign is to minimize the impact car painting has on air quality and to protect the health of those doing the work. We went with a NASCAR theme to help get the attention of autobody shops," Ryan said.

NIES Study Finds Correlation Between C8 and Cholesterol

2009-11-07T03:53:00.004-05:00

A recent study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences indicates that in human beings of all sizes, ages and sexes, C8 may impact the body's ability to metabolize cholesterol.

The manmade manufacturing substances known as PFOA and PFOS have been found all over the world. An analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003 - 2004 shows a correlation between elevated levels of C8 and cholesterol. The results were similar to those observed in other epidemiological studies.

The latest study calls for more investigation into human health effects of not only PFOA and PFOS exposure, but also exposure to other, lesser-known perfluorochemicals.

Earl Tennant Passes Away at 67

2009-05-18T06:41:00.002-05:00

Family members are holding private memorial services today for a key figure in the Mid Ohio Valley controversy over the manufacturing chemical known as C8.

Wilbur Earl Tennant passed away suddenly at his Washington, WV home on Friday at the age of 67.

Tennant and his two brothers and their wives began searching for answers in the early 1980s after losing an entire herd of cattle to a mysterious wasting disease. Later they discovered that DuPont was using an adjacent lot as landfill for C8 and other substances leftover from production.

It was their investigation that launched the first class action lawsuit against DuPont over the presence of C8 in local water supplies.

Toxic Soup Movie

2009-04-28T22:18:00.002-05:00

The conversation about C8 continues in a new documentary by MBD films.

You can watch a preview here: http://www.toxicsoupmovie.com/

ATSDR: Don't Use Local Water to Mix Baby Formula

2009-04-14T21:30:00.003-05:00

(Here's the full version of the story from the Marietta Register:)

DuPont will pay a $1.6 million civil administrative penalty over environmental violations, including the spilling of hundreds of pounds of C8 into the Ohio River, according to an agreement with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

While the company has been vigorously reducing emissions of the controversial manufacturing substance, DuPont Washington Works experienced discharges from 2004 to 2008 that caused C8 (also known as PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid) to be spilled directly into the river. The company has entered into an agreement with US Environmental Protection Agency over the voluntary phase out of PFOA in consumer products and industrial emissions by 2015. DuPont has made significant strides in controlling releases of C8 from the plant with the installation of specially designed scrubbers, which are credited with reducing air emissions 99 percent since 2002. The company says water emissions have also been decreased by 97 percent. And, for those public water systems with the highest levels of exposure, DuPont has constructed carbon filtration systems to reduce C8 in drinking water.

So, local consumers may be surprised to learn the details behind the WVDEP consent order, which reveals that as recently as January 27, 2008 the company spilled 178 pounds of C8 into the river.

On May 16, 2006, about 66.7 pounds of C8 was leaked into the river along with 2,487 pounds of FEP or fluorinated ethylene propylene, a liquid derivative of Teflon used in applications for flexible products like tubing, plastic sheeting, and o-rings.

On August 2, 2005, an employee error in the Teflon PFA area resulted in a discharge of between 100 to 200 pounds of PFA fluff into the river. PFA is afluoropolymer resin.

On April 7, 2004, DuPont reported a spill of an unspecified amount of Teflon into the Ohio River.

But, PFOA wasn’t the only potentially hazardous substance released in violation of DuPont’s operating permits. Of the other six spills cited in the administrative order, two involved releases of toluene, one involved aluminum stearate, one involved Amberlite resin, another involved the leaking of 4,700 gallons of methanol, and the largest on January 9, 2008, spilled “several thousand pounds” of sodium sulfite, sodium iodide, and sodium chloride into the Ohio River.

WVDEP found that the local plant violated the Water Pollution Control Act and the Solid Waste Management Act. The infractions cited in the administrative consent order involve incidents at DuPont Washington Works and two closed landfills from 2004 to July 2008.

DuPont is required to immediately report any spills to the agency by means of a designated spill hotline, but in at least one case the WVDEP order claims the company failed to do so. In other instances, WVDEP says spills were reported, but still resulted in violations because the company is prohibited from releasing “unpermitted pollutants” into state waters. C8 is classified as such because it remains an unregulated chemical while the EPA continues its risk assessment. Of the $1.6 million fine, DuPont will spend $500,000 on supplemental environmental projects to be completed over the next three years to benefit the community. The rest will go to the state’s Water Quality Management Fund.

DuPont officials say they welcome the opportunity to use a portion of the penalty to fund projects for the community.

“DuPont takes this matter very seriously and has been fully cooperative with the agency throughout this process,” company officials said in a statement. “We are committed to continuously improving our environmental performance. During the past five years, we have conducted numerous evaluations, assessments, studies and have made substantial investments in performance and facility improvement projects aimed at environmental compliance and optimizing our operations.”

The information about the recent C8 spills comes on the heels of advice from the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, which indicated that vulnerable populations should take all reasonable precautions to reduce C8 exposure. In the strongest statement yet on the topic, the ATSDR recommendsthat parents and caregivers who live in the Parkersburg area use only premixed baby formula so as not to mix powdered formula with PFOA contaminated water.

Eric Bumgardner of the Parkersburg Utility Board explained that the city is not obligated to sample its water for C8, but quantifiable levels have been detected in three of the city’s wells so voluntary sampling is performed periodically.

“We have no requirement to sample,” Bumgardner said. “We don’t have a specific schedule.”

Bumgardner said the city tests the water once or twice a year. The last sampling of Parkersburg’s wells took place on December 29, 2008. Finished water was not sampled at that time, but the well with the highest concentration contained levels of 0.073 parts per billion.

In the final days of the Bush administration, the EPA established its first provisional health advisory for C8 at 0.4 parts per billion and in March it was formally adopted. But, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington DC-based science and advocacy coalition, says the EPA’s new action level for drinking water, which is based on short-term consumption, still leaves thousands of area residents chronically exposed to an unacceptable risk of toxic hazards.

A University of Pennsylvania study performed by Dr. Edward Emmett indicates that people who were drinking local water contaminated with C8 had an average of 106 times as much C8 in their blood as was present in the water they were consuming.

So far, New Jersey is the state with the most restrictive rules for C8 in drinking water with a health-based guidance level of 0.04 parts per billion based on a lifetime or 70 years of exposure.

C8 is already present at low levels in the blood of nearly everyone in the U.S. The manmade substance has been shown to cause a number of health issues, including cancer, developmental and reproductive problems in laboratory animals. Scientists all over the world are exploring its potential impacts on human health.

DuPont claims, “Evidence from 50 years of experience and extensive scientific studies supports the conclusion that PFOA does not cause adverse human health effects.”

DuPont Spilled C8 into the Ohio River as Recently as 2008

2009-04-02T18:00:00.003-05:00

C8 was discharged directly into the Ohio River as recently as January 2008.

This shocking fact was made clear by the details of an administrative consent order signed by DuPont and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection in March over a number of environmental violations.

DuPont officials have agreed to pay $1.6 million in fines to satisfy the state’s claim against the company.

The details of ten spills, which took place from 2004 to 2008, reveals that the largest reported spill sent nearly 2,500 pounds of FEP, a liquid derivative of Teflon, into the Ohio River. That particular spill also sent about 67 pounds of C8 directly into the Ohio River in May 2006.

As recently as January of 2008, DuPont reported a release of 175 pounds of C8 into the Ohio River.

Other reported spills involved a number of substances, including sodium chloride, methanol, Amberlite resin, toluene, and aluminum stearate.

C8 Science Panel Releases Updates on Three Studies

2009-03-26T12:30:00.007-05:00

Callie interviews Dr. David Savitz - one of three epidemiologists on the C8 Science Panel.

(Thanks to Bill White of OffWhite Salter for the photo.)

All three members of the C8 Science Panel were in Vienna, West Virginia this morning to discuss their latest findings with the local media.

You can view the latest information on their half-life exposure study, immune study, and pregnancy outcome study here: http://www.c8sciencepanel.org/study_results.html

ATSDR: Don't let your babies drink the water . . .

2009-03-25T09:56:00.003-05:00

New advice from the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry indicates that parents who live near Parkersburg, West Virginia should purchase pre-mixed baby formula instead of mixing powdered formula with water contaminated with C8.

While research is ongoing to determine whether human health is negatively impacted by exposure to the manufacturing substance, the agency cited developmental effects as “the most sensitive adverse response to PFOA exposure”.

Based on their concerns, the agency advises local people to reduce exposure for vulnerable populations (pregnant women, women of childbearing age, children and seniors) as much as possible. It also states that it is prudent public health practice for caregivers in the area to reduce infant exposure by using only premixed baby formula.

The directive was issued to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources on February 10. Two ATSDR officials were charged with the responsibility of assisting the West Virginia Department of Public Health in communicating the message to area residents and helping them understand the recommendations.

Considering that the directive was not made public by either of the agencies involved, it is not clear exactly how they intended to communicate the recommendations to impacted residents.

WVDEP Fines DuPont for Discharging "Unpermitted Pollutants"

2009-03-19T17:16:00.004-05:00

DuPont is facing a fine in excess of $1.6 million for environmental violations and exceedance of state permits at the Washington Works wastewater treatment facility and two closed landfills in Wood County.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection found that the local plant violated the Water Pollution Control Act and the Solid Waste Management Act. An administrative consent order signed this week is intended to settle violations that were observed by the state agency from 2004 to 2008.

The funds will go to the state’s Water Quality Management Fund.

DuPont is required to immediately report any spills to the agency by means of a designated spill hotline, but in May 2006 the company failed to do so after discharging 2,487 pounds of Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene liquid. FEP is a Teflon application manufactured with the controversial chemical known as C8 or PFOA.*

In other instances, DEP says spills were reported, but resulted in violations because the company is prohibited from releasing unpermitted pollutants into state waters. Storm water and landfill violations were also cited in the consent order.

*According to DuPont's own internal correspondence. FEP is used in Teflon applications for flexible products like tubing, plastic sheeting, and o-rings.

EPA Limits C8 in MOV Drinking Water

2009-03-12T11:34:00.002-05:00

The EPA is tightening the restriction on C8 in drinking water.

The federal agency issued a consent order today lowering the action level for the manufacturing chemical in public water supplies to 0.4 parts per billion. That’s down from the 0.5 parts per billion prescribed by the agency in 2006. The consent order was prompted by a recent provisional health advisory for C8 - the first of its kind from the EPA.

The new action level is intended to reduce levels of PFOA exposure for people who live in the Mid Ohio Valley near DuPont Washington Works while the EPA completes research and a risk assessment on the chemical's impact on public health.

The new order means that DuPont will have to perform additional testing of surrounding areas to insure that public and private water systems do not contain C8 levels exceeding 0.4 parts per billion.

Brownrigg Documentary

2009-03-02T14:09:00.002-05:00

There's quite a bit of C8 news to catch up on, but in the meantime here's a link to a preview of a documentary by WOUB's Kirsten Brownrigg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2jzNK0NDm8

EPA Issues Provisional Health Advisory on PFOA/PFOS in Drinking Water

2009-01-16T15:39:00.001-05:00

The feds have issued a health advisory for C8 in drinking water.

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a provisional health advisory of 0.4 parts per billion for C8, slightly stricter than the temporary benchmark of 0.5 parts per billion which had been established for drinking water in the Mid Ohio Valley.

Though epidemiological studies are inconclusive as to health effects for humans, the agency formula takes into account the uncertainty over the safety of the manufacturing chemical for humans.

The health advisory issued this week includes the substances PFOA and PFOS, which are both known for their durability and water and grease resistant properties. The provisional health advisory for PFOS, also familiar as the Scotchgard chemical, was set at 0.2 parts per billion.

Feds Expected to Issue C8 Health Advisory

2009-01-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

The Mid Ohio Valley controversy over C8 all began with the wasting of an entire herd of cattle on the Tennant farm near Parkersburg. This week the feds are expected to issue a health warning about drinking water with C8 in it, and it's all because of potentially contaminated beef that made its way into the food supply.

The Charleston Gazette broke the story yesterday.

A draft advisory recommends reducing consumption of water that contains more than 0.4 parts per billion of C8. That's more stringent than the 0.5 parts per billion benchmark currently on the books for areas around DuPont Washington Works where contamination was found in several public water systems.

Interestingly, President Barack Obama has named Lisa Jackson to head the Environmental Protection Agency under his administration. Jackson is currently with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the agency which imposes the strictest rule for C8 contamination - still ten times harsher than the amount cited by the latest draft advisory from the EPA.

The EPA and Food and Drug Administration have recently become concerned over beef that entered the food supply, which may have been contaminated as the cattle were grazing on land in Alabama where industrial sludge had been disposed of. If the beef is found to be contaminated, it would be the first time perfluorochemicals could be traced from sludge to commercially produced food.

It is worth noting that the EPA's draft advisory does not mention food contamination - just drinking water.

Faroese Whale Meat Contaminated with PFCs

2008-08-05T17:01:00.002-05:00

Researchers are finding that people who live in the islands between Norway and Iceland have something in common with residents of the Mid Ohio Valley – elevated levels of PFCs in their blood.

Perfluorinated chemicals like PFOA or C8, which is used in the manufacture of Teflon and thousands of other consumer products, have been detected in the blood of people who eat whale meat in the North Atlantic.

Previously most exposure was thought to come from living near industrial facilities that use the substances or from consumer products and household items like carpets or furniture. The new research may indicate that the family of manmade chemicals has spread worldwide.

A recent study revealed that a single meal with whale meat once every two weeks was associated with a 25 percent increase in exposure.

Will EPA Finish What They Started?

2008-06-11T21:54:00.001-05:00

Residents of the Mid Ohio Valley have been waiting for more than five years for the Environmental Protection Agency to complete a risk assessment on perfluorooctanoic acid, or C8. Now, a prominent attorney says they may have to wait forever.

Rob Bilott, who represented plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against DuPont over local water supplies contaminated with C8, recently sent a letter to the EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, urging them not to delay any further release of information.

Bilott says the agencies are under pressure to drop their work on the manmade chemical, which has been the target of a voluntary global phaseout agreement with industry initiated by EPA.

It has been two years since the EPA released any new information about its risk assessment, despite the fact that new scientific data is becoming available.

Bilott said the “new studies should be evaluated to determine whether present agency conclusions warrant modification, but the present conclusions should not be held by the agencies while researchers continue their work.”

Duplicates Available for C8 Health Project Participants

2008-05-27T12:05:00.000-05:00

People who participated in the C8 Health Project can now receive duplicate copies of their test results from the Science Panel.

Duplicates are being made available to those individuals who have consented to participate in the ongoing community study.

To request a copy of lost or misplaced results, participants can visit the website at c8sciencepanel.org. It’s recommended that individuals request the duplicates by mail using a sample letter available at the website.

Roughly two thirds of the 70,000 individuals who participated in the project also consented for their results to be used in the community study. Those who have not yet done so can fill out a form available on the website.

Additionally, participants who have moved since the time of the testing, which took place in 2005 and 2006, should update their address with the science panel. Instructions are available online.

Judge Seals C8 Health Project Results

2008-05-20T13:54:00.005-05:00

A Wood County Circuit Court Judge has sealed the results of the C8 Health Project in an attempt to protect them from “data snoopers”.

Several days ago, preliminary findings from the data collection portion of the study found their way into news reports after being used in a presentation at West Virginia University where the raw data is being databased and stored. According to the order of Judge J D Beane, the data will be sealed with few exceptions permitted for researchers that petition the judge in writing for access.

The WVU presentation suggested that C8 or PFOA may negatively impact the liver, thyroid and immune functions of humans and contribute to higher cholesterol levels in children.

But a statement from the C8 Science Panel says it’s too early to draw such conclusions. The three-member science panel consists of epidemiologists appointed by the court to study the raw data and make a determination as to whether C8 can be linked to human disease. The results of the project were expected to come through this panel according to a very strict protocol ironed out between the parties involved in the class action settlement brought by residents against DuPont over the presence of the manufacturing chemical in local water supplies.

Panelist Dr. Kyle Steenland said the data from WVU does not represent a thorough analysis. “Therefore, the C8 Science Panel does not believe they provide valid information regarding the presence or absence of association between C8 exposure and health outcomes.”

Steenland said the data from the C8 Health Project by itself is insufficient, even when completely analyzed, to draw any firm conclusions about whether C8 is linked to disease.

When complete, the Science Panel reports will be filed with the Court, published in academic journals, and shared directly with the interested public. Their first analyses of the C8 Health Project data is expected to be made public later this year.

GAO Blames White House for Delay in Regulatory Action on PFOA

2008-04-30T13:41:00.002-05:00

The Government Accountability Office claims that the White House is holding up the EPA when it comes to regulatory action on PFOA – or C8 – a manufacturing substance used to make Teflon and thousands of other consumer products.

The recent report specifically blames the EPA's lack of productivity on the management decision to suspend activity pending the outcome of additional scientific studies. The GAO says that in the 1990s the EPA's general approach was to use the best science available as the basis for assessment. But, the administration's new means of assessing chemicals for harm is delaying the completion of the process - sometimes for years.

The PFOA risk assessment is used by the GAO as one prime example of such a delay. The agency says the EPA should complete chemical reviews within a reasonable amount of time and minimize the need for conducting several levels of rework.

C8 Health Project Releases Raw Data on PFOA Exposure

2008-04-03T18:29:00.003-05:00

Some of the most important and highly anticipated data from the C8 Health Project was released online this week.

The results posted include a summary of the concentrations of the manufacturing chemical known as C8 or PFOA detected in the blood of 70,000 local participants. The new information is available on the West Virginia University website. The summary of raw data confirms that the people who have consumed water from the Little Hocking Water Association display by far the highest exposure levels on average.

The health project detected an average of 83 parts per billion across the study population, but trends become more obvious when comparing participants by water district. The average in Little Hocking was 226 parts per billion. For people who lived in the Lubeck public service district 94 ppb was the average, in Belpre it was 43 ppb, Tuppers Plains 40 ppb, Pomeroy 15 ppb and participants from Mason County, West Virginia averaged 14 parts per billion.

Yet, the study also reveals some of the highest levels observed in human studies of perfluorinated chemicals. In fact, the highest level recorded in the project may be the highest concentration on record for a human exposed to C8. One Little Hocking resident tested as high as 22,412 parts per billion. A Lubeck resident exhibited a level of 17,557 parts per billion, a Tuppers Plains resident had a concentration of 8,162 parts per billion, and a Belpre resident tested at 7,932 parts per billion.

Industry studies show workers with elevated exposure levels, but they only go up to 5,000 parts per billion.

Project administrators warn against drawing health conclusions from the raw data. Little is known about what levels may prove to be "acceptable" or "harmful". Numerous scientific studies are underway to examine potential human health effects. The US EPA is trying to determine whether C8 should be classified as a “suggested” or “likely” carcinogen.

You can view the results online at: http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/cmed/c8/results/C8AndPFCLevels/index.asp

Elevated C8 Levels in 9/11 Responders

2008-04-01T06:45:00.001-05:00

An article published in Science News last week revealed that elevated levels of four perfluorinated chemicals including C8 have been found in emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11.

New biomonitoring results have revealed that the responders have levels about twice as high as expected in the general public. The tragedy exposed thousands of people to smoke and dust containing the remains of the burning towers and including dioxins, fire retardant chemicals, and construction materials.

Researchers examined the blood of 457 workers - state personnel and national guardsmen - who worked at the site. The data will be used as a baseline for further study of the responders.

Congress Investigates Weinberg Group

2008-02-20T14:12:00.004-05:00

The same congressional committee investigating steroid use in baseball is getting ready to examine an issue that directly relates to a Mid Ohio Valley controversy.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating the use of Bisphenol A in products intended for use by infants and children. The committee is trying to learn whether or not scientific evidence about the chemical has been manufactured by a public relations firm working for industry representatives.

As part of their investigation, the committee has asked the Weinberg Group to hand over documents and information relative to their handling of C8 or PFOA. In an April 2003 offer to DuPont, the Weinberg Group stated they could “harness, focus, and involve the scientific and intellectual capital of our company with one goal in mind – creating the outcome our client desires.”

Members of congress want to know what tactics were employed by the pr group to influence the public discussion about C8. As part of the services offered to DuPont, the Weinberg Group said they would facilitate the publication of scientific papers about C8, conflict out experts to keep them from consulting with plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against DuPont, and reshape the debate about C8 to make it appear as though exposure results in real health benefits.

Bisphenol A and C8 are not related, but the Weinberg Group has done work to promote both chemicals.

Specifically, congress wants to understand the strategies used with C8 to learn how similar tactics may have been applied to Bisphenol A. On February 5, Committee Chairman John Dingell of Michigan asked the Weinberg Group to submit all of their records and emails on C8 within two weeks.

Letter to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

2008-02-13T10:23:00.005-05:00

Dear Chairman John Dingell,

I was recently thrilled to learn of your investigation into the junk science sold by public relations companies related to such potentially dangerous substances as perfluorinated chemicals, like DuPont's PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid. Without such a thorough examination into the matter, many like me fear that the truth about this contaminant and others may be extremely hard to come by.

By employing their proven tactics to the controversy impacting the Mid Ohio Valley, the Weinberg Group has promised the corporation positive results to the extent that they were willing to market PFOA as a substance that would actually benefit the heart health of the public. Nearly 250,000 people in Ohio and West Virginia have been consuming the Teflon manufacturing chemical that has seeped into public water supplies. Of those, 70,000 people have provided an independent panel with blood samples and health histories to serve as living guinea pigs in a long-term effort to study the possible implications.

The false evidence provided in this case by the Weinberg group and others is so far from reality that it threatens the viability of any truly independent effort. The EPA's Science Advisory Board has classified the substance as a "likely carcinogen" and industry is looking at the implications of workers with significantly elevated cholesterol levels.

My new book, "Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal", explores this topic in great detail, from the discovery of the contamination of southeastern Ohio water supplies to the ensuing precedent-setting lawsuit, which was the basis of the 70,000-person study previously mentioned. I would be happy to provide a copy for your reference.

However, since its publication, there has been further reason to believe that even the US Food and Drug Administration has been seduced by this corporate junk science. In findings released in 2005, CFSAN chemist Timothy Begley described the difficulty with which he extracted Teflon from frying pans for the testing of PFOA's potential to migrate into food. After taking a drill to the pans to remove the coating, Begley was able to extract only minimal amounts of the contaminant. However, by using far simpler methods Italian scientists were able to come up with substantially different findings. The Italians simply washed their pans and cooked in them a couple of times and their study detected the substance in their food.

Alone this would be insufficient to condemn the FDA, but last year Begley admitted that his research has also underestimated the ability of PFOA to migrate off of paper packing products – by more than 800 times.

Industry has committed to a global phaseout of the substance in manufacturing by 2015. But the products on the store shelves today are likely to insure the presence of the substance in our environment for the next 2,000 years.

All of these conclusions are publicly available.

I wish you well with your investigation and if I could be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at your convenience.

Warmest Regards,
Callie Lyons
Author/Journalist

cc: Senator George Voinovich
Senator Sherrod Brown
Congressman Charlie Wilson
Congressman Zack Space

DuPont Starts Teflon Production in China

2008-01-29T22:09:00.001-05:00

DuPont has announced the opening and start up of a Teflon production plant in China.

The plant makes polytetrafluoroethylene fine-powder and dispersion for global customers. It's said to be part of the company's long-term plan to establish a broader manufacturing base in China.

Teflon is used in hundreds of industrial applications to produce thousands of consumer products.

According to TradingMarkets.com, "the Changshu plant is the fourth DuPont facility that has installed commercial production units using DuPont Echelon technology". The others are in the Netherlands, Japan, and at DuPont Washington Works near Parkersburg.

This month DuPont Washington Works is celebrating 60 years of manufacturing in the Mid Ohio Valley.

You're Invited . . . .

2008-01-29T06:16:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, Feb. 7, the Evergreen Arts & Humanities Series at Washington State Community College will present a lecture by Callie Lyons, a journalist in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Graham Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Lyons book, “Stain-resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: the Hidden Dangers of C8,” provides an evenhanded examination of the scientific evidence on all sides of the issue in language that is straightforward and easy to understand.

Her lecture includes old footage from the classic game show "To Tell the Truth" featuring Teflon inventor and native Ohioan, Roy Plunkett. Lyons intends to involve the audience in a kitchen experiment or two. These experiments will help even small children understand how C8 works in the manufacturing process and how difficult it could be to find a replacement substance.

According to Lyons, most consumers at large don't identify themselves as being contaminated. Items like Post-it notes, McDonald’s French fries, or the delicious and distinctive aroma of a bag of microwave popcorn all possess traces of C8. According to Lyons, most people don't realize that Ohioans have shaped the discussion and the controversy over Teflon and C8 from the beginning.

Lyons considers herself a historian, not necessarily an environmentalist, telling the story of how C8 has impacted on our lives. Her journalism career includes television, newspaper, and radio journalism, and she is currently the news director for WMOA/WJAW radio in Marietta, Ohio. Lyons work concerning C8 has earned her a reputation as a fair-minded writer concerned with the environment and equally concerned with the potential impact of negative journalism on the economy of the area she calls home. Recently, Lyons received the Uncovering the Truth Award from Ohio Citizen Action and the Associated Press of Ohio First Place distinction for Best Business Writer 2006.

(Source: WSCC Press Release)

60 Years in the Mid Ohio Valley

2008-01-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

"DuPont Washington Works rests on the banks of the Ohio River in Wood County, West Virginia on a tract of river bottom land conveyed to George Washington by Lord Dunmore in 1772. In 1945, DuPont purchased the land and construction was soon underway. Initial operations were started in January, 1948 with 171 employees who produced 1,782 pounds of nylon filament during the first month."

"While the plant itself is situated inside a 200-acre fenced complex, DuPont owns about 1500 additional acres in the Mid-Ohio Valley. With the DuPont corporation, Washington Works holds the distinction of being the only U.S. plant site of having a state park reside on plant property. The Blennerhassett Island State Park occupies the upper 1/3 of an Ohio River island adjacent to the plant. The State of West Virginia leases part of the island from DuPont. The park, rich in historical significance, is host to more than 40,000 visitors each year."

Source: DuPont Washington Works

C8 Lingers in LHWA Distribution System

2008-01-24T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Little Hocking Water Association mailed a notice to all its members informing them that C8 is still being detected in the distribution system despite the installation of a filtration plant to remove the manufacturing substance from drinking water supplies.

The new treatment plant went online a little more than two months ago around the beginning of November. Since that time, the carbon filtration material has already been changed out once.

LHWA says that the filtration plant appears to be working, but C8 remains in the distribution system because of past accumulations. Though water leaving the treatment facility is testing nondetect for C8, the chemical is being detected at levels ranging from 19 to 73 parts per trillion at various places throughout the distribution system.

The notice says until the water association has reliable data that establishes that C8 has been eliminated from the distribution system, consumers may be drinking or otherwise using water containing C8 – and doing so at their own risk of possible health effects.

Read Callie's story on WMOA

Minnesota DOH Draft Health Risk Limits

2008-01-19T11:01:00.000-05:00

The following draft rules were released by the Minnesota Department of Health on January 15, 2008.

• The health effects of concern for PFOS are effects on the liver and thyroid.
• The health effects of concern for PFOA are effects on the liver and slowed development of fetuses, reduced number of red blood cells, and changes to the immune system.
• Doses of concern are based on the level of PFC in the blood (serum) of animals that is associated with health effects.
• The exposure value for water intake encompasses 95 percent of the United States population averaged from birth through the age at which the PFC level in blood remains stable.
• PFOA and PFOS each have a HRL value of 0.3 ug/L* in drinking water.

*0.3 parts per billion

View the entire document: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/groundwater/hrlgw/finalreport011508.pdf

Italian Study Raises New Questions About C8 Exposure from Teflon

2008-01-16T23:34:00.000-05:00

A new study from Italy seems to indicate that C8 migrates into food from Teflon more easily than estimated by U.S. scientists.

Although PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid can be found in the blood of most people in very small amounts, it's been claimed for some time that Teflon was not a significant contributor to human exposure. It's also been thought that C8 migration into food from Teflon coated products was most likely to occur once the cookware had been damaged in some way or when the coating began to degrade. The new findings seem to fly in the face of those old claims.

The Italian study concludes that C8 migration into food can "take place in the first phases of container use and not only from containers abused by kitchen tools or otherwise scratched". The researchers concluded that the study does not agree with prior results because the newer study uses a better extraction system.

C8 Still in the LHWA System

2007-11-30T20:49:00.000-05:00

In response to test results received today, DuPont has consented to continue to provide bottled water for Little Hocking Water Association customers by reimbursement only. The details of the program will be made available on Monday.

Today's results confirm that the C8 has not yet been purged completely from the system.

LHWA asks DuPont to Continue Bottled Water Program in Light of New Test Results

2007-11-30T09:58:00.000-05:00

The Little Hocking Water Association is asking DuPont once again to continue to foot the bill for bottled water for their customers until tests prove that a new filtration plant is successfully removing detectable levels of C8 from the water.

The bottled water program was put in place in the fall of 2005 after Dr. Edward Emmett found levels of C8 in Little Hocking people were 40 to 60 times higher than the general public. Prior to the release of Emmett's findings, the water association had been negotiating with DuPont for an alternative supply of water outside the scope of the class action lawsuit filed against the corporation in Wood County.

So far, DuPont has spent $3 million providing bottled water for most of Little Hocking's 12,000 customers. Company officials say the program is at an end. But, the water association is urging them to continue it for a while longer.

Robert Griffin is the general manager of the Little Hocking Water Association:

"Even though purging is not complete, DuPont apparently intends to end the bottled water program on November 30," Griffin said. "We are continuing to urge DuPont to fund the bottled water program at least until next week, when we have more results from tests that were taken this Tuesday by DuPont at the request of the U.S. EPA."

Griffin is asking customers to pay attention to test results, which will be the true test of the filtration system's effectiveness.

"Test results received by LHWA Wednesday night indicate that purging is still necessary," Griffin said.

He said one tank had C8 levels that were three times greater than the U.S. EPA's action level of 0.50 parts per billion. That level was negotiated by the EPA with DuPont. Other test results received on Wednesday night showed that areas of the system that have already been purged still contain levels of C8 well above the carbon change-out "trigger" of 15 parts per trillion.

“It is important to get as much data as possible before the bottled water program ends, because, as we said on November 2, we want to be able to confirm for our customers that the system as designed and constructed by DuPont will effectively remove the higher concentrations of C8 found in LHWA’s water," Griffin said.

He said those test results could become available as early as today.

Little Hocking Filtration Plant Complete

2007-11-05T18:51:00.000-05:00

Despite treatment plant, clean water still weeks away for residents
(Athens News, November 5, 2007)

The Little Hocking Water Association now has a filtration plant designed for the purpose of removing the contaminant C8. But, that doesn't mean it's time for the 12,000 southeast Ohio residents served by the association to begin drinking water straight from the tap.

The granular-activated carbon-filtration plant went online around 11 last Thursday evening. But it's expected to take a few weeks to flush the system and make sure the treatment facility is properly working.

"We want people to still avail themselves of the bottled water," advised Little Hocking general manager Robert Griffin.

The water association serves customers in parts of eight townships in western Washington County and two townships (Rome and Troy) in Athens County.

The water association is asking DuPont to continue to pay for bottled water for six weeks while the system is purged, and sampling has made sure that the filtration is effectively removing C8. Griffin said the pipes and tanks are currently full of contaminated water.

A statement released by the company on Friday indicates it intends to continue to provide the alternative water - but for only four weeks. "We want to be able to confirm for our customers that the system as designed and constructed by DuPont will effectively remove the higher concentrations of C8 found in (the) water," Griffin said.

The filtration method has been used in less-contaminated water districts, but it's unknown how well it will perform on Little Hocking water, which is the most C8-contaminated public-water system in the nation.

DuPont first made the bottled-water program available in September 2005 in response to Dr. Edward Emmett's August 2005 release of findings indicating that people who drank water from the Little Hocking Water Association had C8 levels 60 to 80 times higher than expected in the general population. The small, rural public water supply became contaminated as a result of manufacturing processes at DuPont Washington Works near Parkersburg, W.Va.

While more than 96 percent of the U.S. population has C8 in their blood, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has estimated the average for most people at 5 to 9 parts per billion. Emmett's University of Pennsylvania study detected levels ranging from 5 parts per billion to 4,000 parts per billion in folks from Little Hocking. All together, they exhibited a median level of 340 parts per billion. Emmett concluded that area residents should consider using an alternative source of water for drinking, cooking and tooth brushing.

The EPA's Science Advisory Board calls C8, also known as PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid, a "likely carcinogen."

Even so, DuPont officials say four weeks is plenty of time to flush the pipes and confirm test results.

"Lab results have shown that the system is performing as designed," said Washington Works plant manager Bill Hopkins. "We're pleased that treated water is now flowing in the LWHA system."

The statement said that DuPont will continue the bottled water program through Nov. 30.

Griffin said the water association and DuPont will test samples to verify that C8 has been removed from the water. He said they will share the results with their customers as soon as they become available.

The filtration plant is designed with a special food-grade carbon material that must be changed out before it becomes saturated in order to remain effective. The Little Hocking plant has two lead beds of carbon and two lag beds. The C8 levels are tested after water goes through each cycle, and the carbon must be changed out when sampling detects 15 parts per trillion coming out of the lead bed. That's to make sure that the C8 has been reduced to the point where it can no longer be detected in the finished water.

DOJ Drops PFOA

2007-10-16T05:16:00.001-05:00

The Department of Justice will not pursue criminal charges against DuPont over its handling of C8 at Washington Works.

In an email sent to employees yesterday, CEO Chad Holliday said he received word on Friday that the DOJ has completed its 2 1/2 year investigation into the research and use of C8 near Parkersburg, West Virginia.

At issue was whether or not DuPont acted criminally in covering up medical monitoring results which indicated that the manufacturing substance can cross the placenta, thereby contaminating the blood of an unborn baby. The company also shielded evidence of possible birth defects in two of seven babies born to mothers who worked in the Teflon division. Late in 2005, DuPont agreed to a settlement with the EPA worth more than $16 million in fines and environmental projects over the hidden evidence.

Holliday said DuPont will continue to focus on meeting commitments to the EPA’s Voluntary Stewardship Program, which calls for the global phaseout of C8 by 2015.

DuPont Worker Mortality Study on C8

2007-10-04T20:43:00.000-05:00

DuPont released a mortality study this week designed to determine whether C8 exposure could be tied to risks for workers.

The study looked at 6,000 Washington Works employees and their mortality rates and causes and compared them with the same data for the population of West Virginia, the population of the United States, and an 8-state regional DuPont employee population.

Results indicated an elevation in mortality risk for kidney cancer and heart disease in Washington Works employees, which the industry report calls “statistically nonsignificant”. It also found a “statistically significant increase for diabetes”.

The report concludes by saying the relatively small numbers for many cause-specific outcomes may not be adequate to thoroughly examine death rates.

The mortality study is one part of a body of evidence to be considered by the C8 Science Panel in making their determination about the whether C8 can be linked to human disease.

(Send me an email if you'd like a copy of the study as I don't currently have the ability to PDF it here.)

Review

2007-09-11T11:17:00.000-05:00

from Science Books and Films, Sept./Oct.2007

"In this book, in crisp, simple, and clear language, Callie Lyons, editor of the Marietta (Ohio) Register, summarizes this story of contamination, which she had been following right from its beginning. The book has enough scientific details to define what C-8 is and why it is considered such a health risk. In 15 well-organized chapters, the volume covers DuPont manufacturing processes, the history of C-8 leakage into public waters, bureaucratic hurdles and industry pressures, scientific and federal investigations, public activism and the residents’ lawsuit, potential further exposure risks, and the phasing out of C-8. Chapter-by-chapter notes and a section on other resources round out the book.

I recommend Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof, and Lethal for anyone in the general public who is interested in environmental pollution and public awareness and action."

—Zafar M. Iqbal, Toxicology-Cancer TCCI, Chicago, IL

C8 Detected in Marietta Water

2007-07-22T06:40:00.000-05:00

Mayor Michael Mullen confirmed Thursday evening that C8 has been detected in Marietta’s water. Finished water was found to contain the manufacturing substance in a concentration of 10 parts per trillion.

Safety Service Director Dave Sands said it’s important to remember that the level detected in Marietta’s water is 50 times lower than the interim action level established by EPA, which is 0.5 parts per billion.

Mullen stressed that the results received by phone were preliminary and not a final written report, which is expected within days. He said the results have been submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

Sands said the city’s wells were tested and results ranged from non-detect to 18 parts per trillion.

C8 Science Panel speaks . . .

2007-07-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

The Science Panel released the following statement today:

"The C8 Science Panel welcomes the decision of Brookmar and WVU to post, as planned, the summary description of the data collected in the C8 Health Project at their websites. Access to data is available through www.c8healthproject.org.

The C8 Health Project is now completed, and the reports they are preparing provide useful baseline information for the community as the Science Panel Community Health research program gets underway.

The Science Panel has now started its longer-term activities. The first phase will involve research to assess the relationship between C8 and various health outcomes, and the second phase will assess for the court all the evidence as to whether C8 is linked to disease. The research results, and then later the assessments, will be reported first to the court and then to the public via our website, www.c8sciencepanel.org , and more formal publications. Our research plans have been updated and explained in some detail on our website, which we invite you to visit regularly. We will be drawing on the valuable data collected by Brookmar for some of our research and collecting further data on community health, as well. We will be regularly updating the public on progress mainly through our website and the press, particularly when we have research results to share.

Work has already started and we are in the first phase of new data collection in the Half-Life Study, designed to determine how long C8 stays in the body. In response to a number of people contacting us by email, we have also re-opened the consent process for those Health Project participants wishing to be part of the next steps of the Panel's studies. Complete details are available at www.c8sciencepanel.org."

C8 Science Panel: Dr. Kyle Steenland, Dr. Tony Fletcher, Dr. David Savitz

2007-07-07T21:44:00.000-05:00

An initial batch of raw data released Friday by C8 Health Project administrators reveals some new information about the well being of the 70,000 participants.

For reasons not yet explained by science or project analysts, “of adult participants, almost half had total cholesterol above desired levels.” That was the case for both men and women.

High blood cholesterol increases the risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. West Virginia ranks second in the nation for incidences of high cholesterol, which health statistics indicate impacts 38.1 percent of the state’s population. Ohio ranks 18th in the U.S. with 33.9 percent of Buckeyes having high cholesterol.

Youngsters who participated in the C8 Health Project exhibited elevated cholesterol levels, too. “Of participants 2-19 years of age, more than one-third had total cholesterol levels above the acceptable range. Total cholesterol was higher in girls compared to boys.”

Some worker studies have suggested a link between highly exposed worker populations and an increase in cholesterol. So far, the C8 levels of the health project participants have not been released, which means it’s not yet possible to draw correlations between exposures and any type of potential impacts.

Another portion of data revealed Friday shows a disproportionately high concentration of kids with learning problems. 9.1 percent of girls aged 11 to 20 and 7.3 percent of young women aged 21 to 30 report having learning disabilities. For girls under the age of 10, just 5.5 percent reported having learning disabilities.

17.7 percent of boys aged 11 to 20 and 12.8 percent of young men aged 21 to 30 report having learning disabilities. For boys under the age of ten, 9 percent reported having learning disabilities.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the national rate of learning disabilities is 4.8 percent. West Virginia has one of the highest rates at 13.5 percent. The prevalence of learning disabilities in Ohio is 5 percent.

Brookmar Releases Some C8 Health Project Results Online

2007-07-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

Brookmar, court appointed administrators of the C8 Health Project, publicly released the first batch of raw data online today. The health project results can be found at www.C8HealthProject.org by following the link to WVU Data.

So far, four categories of information have been posted to the website, which is under construction. The categories posted do not include information on C8 levels, but do include demographic characteristics, the results of clinical laboratory tests, health behaviors, and self-reported clinical diagnoses.

The data released is part of the comprehensive study of 70,000 Mid Ohio Valley residents to determine whether or not C8 can be linked to human disease. The information will be examined by a panel of three epidemiologists, known as the C8 Science Panel, who will ultimately determine the outcome of the class action suit brought against DuPont by local people who were consuming water found to be contaminated with C8.

Little Hocking Seeks Cleanup

2007-07-03T11:58:00.000-05:00

The Little Hocking Water Association says the C8 in their well field presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment. So, they are asking DuPont to clean up the manufacturing substance that has contaminated their aquifer.

The small, rural water association has sent a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act notice to DuPont asking for the clean up of the well field, identification of alternate water sources, and extensive testing of the filtration plant currently under construction.

Attorney David Altman said the continued violation of the endangerment standard would constitute a violation of federal law if it were allowed to go on.

“We want to be sure that they understand the gravity of the situation," Altman said. "There's been a lot of new information developing like New Jersey's temporary standard, which is far below US EPA's negotiated standard. We just want the best for our members and to make sure that people who already have high levels, which sadly are the people of Little Hocking, are protected from additional C8.”

Altman said the construction of a filtration plant to remove the C8 from water is only an interim measure.

“Facets of the operation of this filtration plant, which is as my client has made very clear is a test or an experimental plant that we hope will work. We want to be sure it does work. But, we want to make sure it operates long enough, operates properly and is tested properly,” Altman said.

Without more conclusive information on the potential health impacts from exposure, Altman said any level of exposure is too much.

“When you already have high levels, we're not interested in the people of Little Hocking becoming guinea pigs to prove just how much will start to show various problems,” Altman said.

That's why Little Hocking is seeking a more permanent solution than the treatment facility current under construction.

“It doesn't really address the underlying issues, which RCRA is aimed at, which is either permanent alternate water or a clean up of the aquifer and the well fields themselves,” Altman said.

The notice advised DuPont that Little Hocking is committed to resolving these issues by the end of August.

Environmental Justice Forum with Lois Gibbs

2007-07-03T06:25:00.000-05:00

Follow the link for photos and notes from last Saturday's event:
http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/eramet/ohej_forum.html

Court Filings Tell of Botched Results and Lab Costs

2007-06-29T07:11:00.000-05:00

In May, we learned that about a third of the C8 test results from the C8 Health Project were botched. Court documents filed last week in Wood County tell the details of how it happened.

Status reports filed by Brookmar and Exygen, the laboratory that performed the testing, explain that the lab conducted 71,339 samples for C8 from August 2005 to August 2006, nearly 68,000 of those were part of the C8 Health Project. But, in November of 2005 it was noticed that the lab results from Exygen were consistently higher than observed at a comparative lab. Further investigation revealed that the results were biased 25 percent high.

It was later determined that the cause of the bad results had to do with the standard preparations used to calibrate the testing equipment. In this case, rabbit blood was mixed up with a known quantity of C8 and all the human samples were compared to that standard.

Exygen has committed to retesting the samples in question, all 25,233 of them, at no additional cost. In all, more than $31.6 million of the $70 million Health Project budget was spent on lab fees. Payments to participants came to roughly $27.3 million.

Report Calls for Innovation in Toxicity Testing

2007-06-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

This is interesting. Even the feds believe there are more efficient ways to test the toxicity of chemicals for humans.
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11970

Southeast Ohio Environmental Justice Forum

2007-06-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

Environmental Justice: Policy Gaps at the Local, State and National Levels
Making Ohio’s Polluted Communities Clean and Safe

Saturday, June 30, 2007
1:00 to 4:00 pm
Athens Community Center
701 E. State Street
Athens, OH 45701

Panelists include:

Lois Gibbs, Community Activist from Love Canal and Director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, Washington, DC – "How the US EPA Has Failed Southeast Ohio and other Communities throughout Ohio”

Teresa Mills, Buckeye Environmental Network, Columbus, OH

Anne Robinson, State Health Committee Chairperson, Ohio Conference National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Chillicothe, OH

Lorry Swain, Southern Ohio Neighbors Group (SONG), Portsmouth, OH

Caroline Beidler, Neighbors for Clean Air, Marietta, OH

Elisa Young, Meigs Community Action Network (Meigs CAN), Racine, OH

Callie Lyons, Author of Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof, and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8, Marietta, OH

The panel will be followed by small-group discussions, where participants will get an opportunity to define what an Ohio environmental justice policy would include to address what keeps at-risk communities so polluted.

These forums are the beginning of a conversation that will continue through statewide field hearings and hopefully culminate in the drafting and passage of Ohio environmental justice policy.

Sponsored by Center for Health Environment and Justice, Ohio Environmental Council, Ohio Conference National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Buckeye Environmental Network, Earth Day Coalition, Ohioans for Health Environment and Justice, Appalachian Peace and Justice Network, and the Appalachian Ohio Sierra Club.

Limited seating is available, so reserve your place by Friday, June 22: Catherine Cutcher, Appalachian Peace and Justice Network (APJN), 740-592-2608, apjnnn@gmail.com

MDH Releases Cancer Study

2007-06-07T05:16:00.000-05:00

The Minnesota Department of Health is releasing a cancer study today, observing rates in areas where people have been drinking water contaminated with C8 and other perfluorochemicals.

The state is looking at the issue as the result of contamination detected around 3M manufacturing sites, somewhat similar in nature to the local issue with DuPont Washington Works. For decades, 3M used PFOS to make Scotchgard and many other products. PFOS is a sister chemical to PFOA. Both are known by their 8-carbon chains.

Most of the cancer rates observed were within expected limits, but the study did find some disturbing irregularities.

An excess of liver cancer was found in women living in one of the two counties examined. Further analysis showed that liver cancer rates in men ranked as high as double the state average while the incidents of liver cancer in women were as high as three times the expected rate.

Overall cancer rates in the two counties were very similar to the rest of the state, but the report says that the rates in the profiled communities are statistically uncertain due to the small populations involved. The report concludes that the few elevations observed must be interpreted very cautiously.

(A link to the study will be posted as soon as it becomes available.)

Book Review

2007-06-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

From someone who obviously didn't read the book:

"Ohio-based newspaper reporter and radio news director Lyons tells the story of the manufactured chemical known commercially as Teflon, and its detection in the water supplies 12 states so far. The chemistry and toxicology, the government investigation, the reaction by the DuPont company that makes the stuff, popular movements, law suits, and similar cases are all part of the story." —SciTech Book News, June 2007

Please note: Nothing in the first sentence (past my last name) is true. But, I have no problem with the last sentence.

Upcoming Events

2007-06-06T15:47:00.000-05:00

This Friday evening, June 8, I'll be celebrating Marietta's first Merchants and Artists Walk of the summer season with a book signing at American Flags and Poles. Some copies will be available at a special rate, and these events are always so full of fun and friends, so come on down and say hello!

(There's a very special event coming up in Athens, Ohio on June 30, but I'm waiting until I have a few more details to share.)

On July 11, I'll be offering a presentation on C8 at the O'Neill Senior Center in Marietta from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. We'll share a PowerPoint presentation designed to help people understand some basic truths about C8 and its presence in the Valley, and then we'll open things up for discussion. I'm looking forward to more of these little gatherings. (Please let your community or civic group know that I'm available and seeking out opportunities to speak.)

Between now and then I'm heading home to the great plains of the West. I do hope to share the book with some folks out there. But, more than anything I'm just ready to be home with the family for a spell. Last year, I wrote 5 chapters of the book in ten days at home in Kansas (thanks to my mother's constant vigilance with the girls). So, it will be especially nice to go back without a looming deadline!

Duplicates Important, But Not Available

2007-05-29T18:37:00.000-05:00

People from the Mid Ohio Valley continue to contact me about obtaining duplicate test results from the C8 Health Project, but so far there is no mechanism available to accomplish this.

Last week, I spoke at length with Dr. Paul Brooks of Brookmar. He told me that as the court administrators of the project, they closed their offices in March and have no staff currently available to handle such requests.

Brooks mentioned that the court might be inclined to provide them, but it would be difficult to do so without the code assigned to the participant making the request. In order for the C8 Science Panel and others to be able to observe the data without personal and private identifying information, each participant was assigned a coded number. The number appears on the test results, so it may be somewhat unlikely that participants who lost results would be able to provide their secret code.

The problem with this whole scenario, of course, lies in the fact that when the results were distributed the C8 values meant virtually nothing. By comparing with friends and neighbors, some participants have been able to draw some conclusions about where they fit in the spectrum - high, low, etc. But, it will be years before these numbers have any true significance for the people tested.

Over the next four or five years, the C8 Science Panel will begin to draw some very important conclusions about the concentrations found in these residents. And, when they do, these people will naturally want to reference their own test results.

Additionally, the language of the issue is shifting slightly to include all PFCs and their combined impact on the human body. Although it has gone without a lot of notice, the participants of the C8 Health Project were tested for an array of PFCs. I suspect most people paid no attention to the list and focused solely on PFOA.

But, it is important to note that Germany has laid forth the groundwork for the substances and their contamination to be considered as a class - not as separate chemicals. The country has progressively established a health-based value for the group of perfluorochemicals of no more than 0.5 parts per billion. This seems much stricter than U.S. EPA’s interim level of 0.5 parts per billion for PFOA alone.

Likewise, the wording of a court filing by attorney Rob Bilott against the 3M Company over pollution surrounding a Minnesota facility calls out the class of chemicals - not one particular strain.

I’m guessing that at some point in the future it will become very important for participants to be able to peruse the entire list of contaminants and exposure levels. Those results may provide even greater insight into the issue developing in the Valley - and around the world.

Compelling TV Report from Minnesota - the Land of 3M

2007-05-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

Follow the link: KMSP Special Report on PFCs

This television report (consisting of 2 segments totalling nearly 10 minutes) takes a really long time to load. Even so, it's a very intense and interesting report from the North Star State, looking at the issue from a national perspective. Enjoy! It's definitely worth the wait!

C8 Health Project: 20,000+ to be Resampled

2007-05-22T06:19:00.000-05:00

From WMOA today (www.wmoa1490.com):

The C8 Health Project is re-sampling the blood of roughly a third of the participants after a lab error resulted in the reporting of C8 levels that were slightly too high.

Dr. Paul Brooks of Brookmar, the court appointed study administrators, said in an interview yesterday that the problem was detected by quality control as they double checked the accuracy of the chemistry from their primary lab against a smaller group of results from another lab.

Brooks said it's a difficult test to run . . . which may have led to the error.

“It is a very sophisticated test,” Brooks said. “Laboratories have different methods of actually doing it. It's not done with the same method at any laboratory. We use different methods to extract it. There's a lot of variables and things that can happen in that testing, but we know we've found the problem and we're going to correct it. And, on the rerun all that is being run through quality control, too, just like the initial.”

Project administrators are faced with the monumental task of resampling the blood of more than 20,000 participants. But, they won't have to call people back to draw more serum.

“On the initial blood draw we saved blood on everybody so we can go back and retest the sample that was originally tested,” Brooks said.

And, once the resampling is complete, the first 20,000 people who participated in the C8 Health Project – or those who gave blood between September and December of 2005 – will receive revised results in the mail.

“We will give a new set of results, but we're not going to send that out until we complete everything – and we think that's going to be about 10 weeks from now,” Brooks said.

Brooks said that should happen during July. And, then the information will be turned over to the C8 Science Panel for their review.

Ultimately, the data will be used to determine the outcome of a class action lawsuit filed against DuPont for the contamination of local water supplies with the manufacturing substance.

Calgon Take Me Away!

2007-05-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I was privileged to be able to observe a changeout of carbon material at one of the filtration plants DuPont built for a local water system. It was a fascinating process.

This particular changeout was for the Tuppers Plains Chester Water District. It is one of just three in operation, though two more are under construction.

Filtration by means of granular activated carbon is dependent upon periodic changeouts of fresh material in order to maintain effectiveness. For the existing systems, that has meant a changeout every few months.

The material is manufactured by Calgon - the same company that makes bath products and those "Calgon take me away" ads from the late 70s or early 80s. Note the enormous truck. There were two onsite - one to remove the old carbon and one to install the new stuff.

The trucks back up to the filtration plant and hook up a series of hoses to the tanks inside. Water is added to the dry carbon material and then it is fed into the recently emptied chambers.

The granular activated carbon attracts PFOA, but the method is not terribly efficient. The process takes the amount of the C8 in the delivered water down to nondetectable levels.

A Timely Excerpt from Chapter 5

2007-05-15T14:54:00.000-05:00

In 1996, Dr. Eli McCoy of the WVDEP water division negotiated a settlement of $200,000 with DuPont over reports of hundreds of dead cattle and deer in the area of the Dry Run Landfill. In part, the terms of the settlement barred further governmental investigation or enforcement at the site in exchange for the payment to the agency. It weakly insisted on some minor upgrades to the landfill, including the installation of a liner and a system for capturing groundwater runoff. At the conclusion of the drafting of the consent decree, McCoy left WVDEP for work in the private sector "and began working for the same DuPont consultant that would assist DuPont in complying with the consent decree - Potesta and Associates."

Unfortunately, the revolving door between DuPont and WVDEP didn't begin or end with Eli McCoy. Far more dangerous individuals would interfere with the health and safety of the people of West Virginia and Ohio from within the state agency.

(from Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8, Chapter 5: The Conspiratorial Bureaucracies, page 57)

WVDEP and the Chamber of Commerce Offer Environmental Academy

2007-05-11T05:43:00.000-05:00

Some of the most slippery characters from Chapter 5: The Conspiratorial Bureaucracies will be appearing at the West Virginia Environmental Academy sponsored by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce on May 23-24.

Most notably, Dr. Eli McCoy and Ms. Allyn Turner, both former WVDEP employees who have returned to private enterprise, will be presenting along with Andrew McCallister, another of Turner's colleagues from Spilman, Thomas and Battle - a firm that has been representing DuPont in regulatory negotiations for years.

As a WVDEP enforcement official, McCoy first drafted an enforcement agreement with DuPont over the sickening of the Tennant cattle, then accepted a position working with DuPont consultant Potesta & Associates, Inc. where he is currently listed as VP. He'll be offering a talk on "Compliance Strategies".

After leaving Spilman once before for a position with WVDEP, Ms. Turner headed DEP's Department of Water and Waste Water Management. She'll be discussing "Nationwide Permitting and Mitigation Issues".

These folks are presenting alongside current WVDEP officials, the director of the Water Protection Program for USEPA Region 3, and other WV office holders in a two day conference that costs $495 to attend. It's billed as an opportunity to "discuss your company's significant environmental challenges and experiences with both industry and agency representatives".

For more information about the academy, call 304-342-1115. I couldn't make this stuff up.

Upcoming Book Events

2007-05-06T08:59:00.000-05:00

Next Friday, May 11 my first book-signing event will be held during downtown Marietta's garden party. I'll be at American Flags and Poles on Front Street throughout the celebration from 6 to 9 pm.

Copies of the book are now available at American Flags and Poles, Sugden’s Bookstore, Mother Earth Foods and Peoples News.

The purpose of the book, Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof, and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8, is to chronicle the history of C8 (also known as PFOA or perfluorooctanoic acid), its discovery in the Mid Ohio Valley, and its migration into at least as many as twelve other states. Without drawing conclusions or making claims about the potentially hazardous substance, the book endeavors to lay out all of the evidence in an even handed manner that is easy for consumers to read and understand.

And, don't forget on May 17, I'll unveil my PowerPoint presentation on the book at Warren High School auditorium. This particular showing is for the purpose of sharing the most relevant portions of the book with the most contaminated people - my friends and neighbors here in southeast Ohio. The premiere will be free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome.

*As for the footnote, I've just this week learned of a DuPont Flooring plant in St. Louis that is and will be emitting C8/PFOA until 2015, according to the Sierra Club, making Missouri the thirteenth state at risk for the same kind of industrial pollution experienced in Ohio and West Virginia.

*May 22 update: DuPont officials say there is no flooring plant in St. Louis that meets this description.

Lethal?!

2007-04-26T17:19:00.000-05:00

Oftentimes, talk about my book centers far too much around the title. One word in particular really bothers people who haven't read anything but the cover.

Last night an anchor from WOUB-TV in Athens asked the inevitable question, “You claim your book is an even-handed examination of the scientific evidence on C8, yet the book title refers to the manufacturing chemical as ‘lethal’. Is that fair?”

So, here’s my answer:

Yes, the word lethal is an accurate descriptor for C8. But, it was employed for the purpose of selling books – it does not represent a bias in the content.

A marketing team concocted the book title and cover – mostly without my input. They were focusing on a plethora of evidence that proves that C8 is lethal to several species of laboratory animals – as well as its potential for causing specific types of cancer and developmental effects in humans.

In fact, scientific evidence indicates that C8 is deadly for mice, rats, monkeys, and cattle. The specific risk for humans remains unclear, but a Science Advisory Board appointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls it a likely carcinogen – and that’s for humans.

Last time I checked, cancer was lethal.

Dominoes: Little Hocking to Minnesota

2007-04-24T19:32:00.000-05:00

Incredibly, I’ve just learned that it was the detection of C8 in Little Hocking water supplies that led to the discovery of PFCs near 3M’s Minnesota facility.

The credit for this turn of events could go to attorney Rob Bilott, who stumbed upon C8 in 2000 – or the Tennant family who hired Bilott to find out what was killing their cattle. However, even the resultant class action alone didn’t alert the Minnesota authorities.

In the most amazing, but simple way, it was Robert Griffin, general manager of the Little Hocking Water Association who first alerted the Minnesota Department of Health to the presence of C8 in the water near the 3M Company’s Cottage Grove facility. He called to ask if they had established any sort of health-based values or community exposure guidelines for the presence of the stuff in their drinking water. Befuddled, MDH contacted 3M to ask what the heck Griffin was talking about, which in turn prompted a confession from 3M that they had known about the presence of PFCs in the local water for decades but failed to disclose their internal test results to the public health authorities!

In the end it proves that simply being there to ask the right questions can accomplish so much.