Court, scientists receive chemical data on 69,000 residents

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Scientists working to learn whether the chemical known as C8 can be harmful to humans are seeking more data, even as one set of research involving more than 69,000 people has been delivered to them.

The C8 Science Panel will send letters in the next few weeks requesting interviews with about 40,000 Ohio Valley residents, along with nearly 6,000 past and present employees of Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont.

The panel hopes the interviews, which will touch on participants’ medical histories, will provide some of the strongest evidence as to whether C8 is linked to any disease.

The study is part of a class-action lawsuit that claims C8 releases from DuPont’s Washington Works Plant near Parkersburg contaminated their water supplies.