C8 Science Panel makes data available

Panel to conduct a series of studies

By PAMELA BRUST, pbrust@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG – The C8 Science Panel, chosen to determine whether C8 has a probable link with any disease, is making duplicate copies of portions of the C8 Health Project data available to those project participants who lost or misplaced their results.

The data being made available in the duplicate copies is for the level of C8 and nine related fluorocarbons.

The health project was established through a 2005 settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit filed against DuPont Washington Works. Nearly 70,000 current and former residents of the six water districts included in the lawsuit were tested. The health study included blood test results as well as medical and demographic history of community residents. Data collection for that project, under the direction of Brookmar, Inc., was completed by mid-2006. The three member C8 Science Panel was also created under the settlement. The panel is made up of scientific experts in the field of epidemiology, who will analyze the data collected by the C8 Health Project and conduct a series of studies over the next several years.

Many participants have asked how they can obtain copies of their personal results. Those copies of the C8 data will be sent to the participants who have consented to be part of ongoing science panel studies, and write in with a request. About two-thirds of the C8 Health Project participants have signed such consents. Those who have already consented may request copies of their data by mail, by following the sample letter at www.c8sciencepanel.org. Those who have not consented may still do so by downloading the consent form at the Web site, sending it to the science panel, and at the same time requesting their duplicate results, said Dr. Kyle Steenland, spokesman and member of the science panel.

According to Steenland, letters recently went out from Brookmar Inc., which conducted the testing, to those who had blood drawn prior to Dec. 7, 2005, about a third of those who participated in the C8 Health Project. Those participants were sent corrected results. For quality assurance purposes, retesting was done on specimens obtained on or before Dec 7, and these achieved better results. This large number of analyses took some time and this corrected data has now also been given to the science panel.

The science panel will be conducting a series of studies over the next several years. The community and worker follow-ups are two of these studies.