C8 Science Panel at Rotary
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C8 Science Panel at Rotary |
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 Dr. Tony Flectcher |
 Dr. Kyle Steenland |
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PARKERSBURG — Two of the three members of the C8 Science Panel spoke about the panel’s work
Monday to members of the Parkersburg Rotary Club. | Dr. Tony Fletcher and Dr. Kyle Steenland spoke about the status of the project and also answered some questions from the audience about the program. Fletcher said the main purpose of the panel is to determine if there is a link between the chemical that is used in the manufacture of Teflon and serious disease or birth defects. He and Steenland said there are 10 studies the panel will conduct in its analysis. Fletcher said if a probable link is found, there may be a second panel appointed by the Wood County Circuit Court for medical screening. He said the same court appointed them to the panel after they were nominated by the plaintiffs and defendants in the case brought by Lubeck residents against DuPont’s Washington Works facility. Two of the studies will rely on data from the C8 Health Project conducted by Brookmar. One of those studies will look at heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cholesterol and the other will study cancer, immune function, liver and hormone disorders. First results are expected in 2008. Other studies will be a community follow-up, worker follow-up, birth outcomes in the community compared to those participating in the health project, geographic patterns of cancer, follow-up on the second study, a study on exposure to estimate how exposure levels have changed for residents in the affected water districts and a half-life study to determine how much time it takes for C8 to clear out of the body after water is filtered. Results for the tests are expected between 2008 and 2011. For now Fletcher said there are other studies concerning C8, such as studies from Denmark and Johns Hopkins University that point to decreased birth weight of children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of C8. Fletcher said the studies do not provide significant data to make a determination at this time. Steenland said the half-life study will rely on blood tests on 200 individuals in the Lubeck and Little Hocking water districts to see how long it takes for the chemical to be removed from the body. He said the study will require six to eight samples from them over four years. Steenland said the timeline for the study is for the results of the C8 Health Project to be released in 2008. The results of the exposure study, the geographic studies on cancer and reproductive health and the half-life study will be released in 2009. In 2010 results will be released for the follow-up on the study of immune function, liver and hormone disorders and in 2011 results from the worker and community exposure study and the final results of the half-life study will be released. Fletcher said quality controls are in place to make sure samples taken are accurate, such as testing samples by independent labs. He said the study itself will be published in peer-reviewed journals which will evaluate the methods and results to determine if the study is valid and preliminary results are examined by a peer panel. Contact Jeffrey Saulton at jsaulton@newsandsentinel.com
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