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NEWS BRIEFS
More Teflon chemical in people in W.Va., Ohio area
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A study shows residents near a mid-Ohio Valley chemical plant have nearly eight times the average blood level of a chemical used to produce Teflon, but additional research is needed to determine if the substance is linked to increased diabetes and high cholesterol.
The results filed with Wood County Circuit Court late Tuesday are part of a health screening DuPont Co. agreed to fund to settle a 2001 class-action lawsuit filed by Ohio and West Virginia residents. The suit alleged the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA or C8, had contaminated water supplies in six water districts near DuPont’s Washington Works plant along the Ohio River.
Residents who worked at the plant, or lived closest to it, had the highest levels of C8 in their blood, said the court-appointed science panel in its 11-page filing.
In general, the study found that residents had a median level of 38 parts per billion of C8 in their blood, or 7.6 times that of the average American. Men had higher levels then women.
DuPont workers had 148 ppb, while former plant employees had 75 ppb.
Residents with the highest levels of C8 also had a 40 percent to 50 percent “increased risk of having high cholesterol” than those with the lowest levels, the panel said.
While the panel said it’s findings “are cause for concern, given the fact that high cholesterol is known to be related to heart disease,” a direct link could not be established because the study’s design did not look at C8 levels prior to the 2005-06 health screening of about 69,000 residents. Residents provide medical histories and blood samples for the screening.
The panel said it was conducting additional studies “in which it will be clear that exposure to the chemicals preceded any disease.”
Testing also showed a similar cholesterol increases for another fluorocarbon found in the residents. The chemical was not released by the DuPont plant.
Additional study also would be needed to determine if C8 levels are linked with diabetes.
“Our findings do not demonstrate an association between PFOA and either type II diabetes or fasting glucose level,” the panel’s filing said. Fasting glucose is a risk factor to determine later diabetes.
“These are pieces of the evidence that are interesting but don’t nail anything down because of the nature of the data,” science panel member Kyle Steenland said Wednesday. “We have to know exposure. We must know the exposure precedes the disease before you can determine if the exposure caused the disease.”
The panel is conducting 10 more studies that it expects to release results from over the next two to four years. Nine of those studies will be based on interviews and information collected since the 2005-06 screening.
Those studies should “get more definitive,” said Steenland, who is with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.
DuPont spokesman Dan Turner said Wednesday that the company supports the panel’s findings and its continued work.
“The Science Panel has now reported on three results from the first of eleven planned studies to determine if there is a probable link between exposure to C8 and disease in the community. Their work is ongoing, and as stated in their press release, ’the Science Panel has drawn no conclusions about a probable link between C8 and disease based on these first three reports.”’
Harry Deitzler, who represents the residents, said the filings “will help reassure the class action participants that the science panel is making timely progress to reach substantive findings.”
The chemical, which has been used since World War II, is used to produce the nonstick substance Teflon and a variety of other products, from flooring to food packaging. DuPont has said the chemical is distilled out before the final product is completed and is not present in Teflon or other products.
DuPont has maintained there are no harmful effects, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers C8 potentially carcinogenic and DuPont has agreed to phase out the product by 2015.
Interest in the health screening is high because the Washington Work’s plant is DuPont’s second largest facility and with about 2,000 employees is one of the region’s largest employers. In 2006, DuPont told the EPA that it discovered evidence of elevated cancer rates among plant employees, but the company said it could not say if it was related to C8.
In addition to the health screening, DuPont agreed to install carbon filtration systems in the six water districts located in Ohio and West Virginia. The last system was installed in November.
